Chasing Magic
by BlackShaftedArrow
Summary: When Nick Fury decides to bring the mysterious Percy Jackson in for questioning, our favorite demigod defiantly refuses. His friends from Camp Half-Blood back him up in their fight against the Avengers Initiative. NO SLASH
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus—rights to Rick Riordan. I don't own the Avengers either, so all those rights go to whoever deserves them.**

The man flipped through the thick stack of papers, scanning them quietly. He was beginning to be a problem, this kid. He lifted the front page once again and stared at the picture there.

It was a teenaged boy with dark hair falling over his sea green eyes. He was smiling—this shot had been taken when he'd been seen at a local pizza place. He sifted through the boy's records again, records that were incredibly dangerous.

He'd blown up several schools, was seen fighting an unrecognizable figure with what seemed to be a baseball bat, had gone missing twice—one a violent kidnapping when he was twelve and the other when he'd been gone for almost a year before returning seemingly fine. He was also said to have been involved in the freak storms and the mass snoozefest that had happened a few years back in Manhattan.

He sighed. He was getting concerned. Wait, Nick Fury concerned by a teenage boy?

Yep.

It wouldn't hurt to take him in for questioning, would it? They could gain some valuable information from him, and besides that, they could maybe find out what had happened during that year he was missing. He glanced at the paper again. Sure enough, an address was provided. Why hadn't he done this before?  
Yes, he thought. It was time to call the Avengers.

Percy twisted the doorknob with the crook of his elbow and nudged it open with his knee. He stumbled as he made it inside the apartment and kicked the door closed with his heel. He dropped his math book on the rug and bent to pick it up after dumping the rest of the books on the coffee table.

Wow. It had been a long day.

"Percy! Is that you?" His mother's voice called.

"Yeah, mom," he replied, kicking off his shoes. "It's me."

Sally Jackson walked into the living room, a dusting rag in one hand and a spray bottle full of cleaner in the other. "How was school?"

"Fine," he said as he trudged into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He picked up a blue cookie and munched on it. "Annabeth will be here in a few minutes to help me study."

Sally raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Percy caught the expression and smiled a little. Mothers. They were always so suspicious.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Percy bolted out of his seat and power walked towards the door. Of course, he had no idea he was going so fast, but his mom noticed and smiled. He threw the door open to reveal Annabeth Chase, girlfriend extraordinaire. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her stormy gray eyes sparkled with excitement. She had a blue backpack slung over her left shoulder and a book in the other.

"Hey, Wise Girl," he said happily.

"Hi, Seaweed Brain." She stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she walked inside the apartment and set her books on the coffee table. She frowned at the mess of schoolwork Percy had left there, then turned to Sally.

"Hello, Mrs. Jackson."

"Hello, Annabeth. How are you, dear?" Percy's mom replied.

"Great." Boyfriend and girlfriend made their way to the kitchen table and began spreading out their books, though Percy didn't seem very serious about any of it.

Just as Annabeth picked up a cookie, there was a knock at the door. Sally turned around and glanced at the two teenagers. "Expecting someone else?"

Percy shook his head, and Annabeth continued to open up her history book. She didn't seem too concerned about the unexpected visitor.

"Thalia said she was coming by this weekend, but that's still three days away." Percy stood to answer the door, but Sally got there first.

When she opened the door, she found a man and a woman waiting for her. The woman, who had fiery red hair and bright eyes, spoke first. "Hello, is this the Jackson's residence?"

Sally smiled, puzzled as to who these people were. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Yes, actually, we're looking for Perseus Jackson," the man said. He had short-cropped brown hair and a face that resembled a hawk. "We'd like to ask him a few questions."

Sally paled noticeably, but tried to cover it up. "Yes, of course. Come right in." She tried to sound hospitable, but she was obviously distracted now. "Please, sit down." She gestured towards the couch and called for her son. "Percy! There are some people here to see you."

Sally heard hit chair squeak across the tile floor and footsteps approach the living room. "Who is it, mom? Is Thalia here early—oh," he finished when he saw the two unfamiliar people.

"Can I help you?" He asked, beginning to look nervous. His eyes flickered to the kitchen, then back.

"We'd just like to ask you a few questions, Percy." The woman gestured towards the chair opposite the couch, but Percy made no move to sit down. "I'm Agent Romanoff, and this is my colleague, Agent Barton."

"You're from the government, aren't you?" Percy asked.

"Something like that. We're from an agency called SHIELD," Barton said. He waited expectantly, as if Percy was supposed to ask for an autograph or something.

The son of Poseidon just blinked. "So?"

Natasha glanced at Sally—an obvious hint for her to excuse herself. Sally got the message.

"Well, I'll leave you three to talk. I've got some cleaning to do." Then Percy's mom left the room. Whispers came from the kitchen, then Annabeth's soft footsteps were heard. She stopped behind Percy and smiled at the guests.

"Hello." She waved a little, smiling distractedly. Then she turned back to Percy inconspicuously. "Who are they?" she whispered.

"Governments peeps."

"_Peeps_?" Annabeth asked, a grin spreading across her face.

Percy shrugged and led his girlfriend over to the couch. Romanoff and Barton exchanged a glance like they didn't want Annabeth there, but Percy didn't care. If Annabeth wasn't supposed to hear what they were about to say, Percy didn't want to know either.

"So what's SHIELD?" He asked.

"It's a secret government agency, like you guessed. We—" Romanoff began.

"Wait a second," Annabeth interrupted. "If it's secret, why are you telling two untrustworthy teenagers about it?"

"Untrustworthy?" Percy asked indignantly, glancing at his girlfriend. Annabeth ignored him.

"Oh, we know you two are untrustworthy," the woman continued. "In fact, that's what we were wanting to discuss."

"Why people don't trust me?" Percy asked. "You trust me, don't you, Wise Girl?"

"That's a rabbit trail, Percy. Get off it."

"Not exactly," Barton intervened. "We've seen your records, Perseus Jackson. And we also know that you have never been charged as a criminal for anything you've done—blowing up schools, buses, the St. Louis Arch. Not to mention your suspicious activity."

"What are you saying?" Percy narrowed his eyes. He was beginning to feel even more nervous than he was in the first place.

"We're saying that we'd like to take you to our headquarters for questioning. Just for a few hours, then you may return home," Romanoff said.

Annabeth sensed a lingering unless at the end of that sentence. "Unless…?"

The two agents hesitated before the redhead spoke up. "Unless we find your answers are inadequate, or you're lying to us."

"You know what? I think you two should leave." Percy stood, moving to stand in front of Annabeth protectively. His sea green eyes hardened into a murderous glare before motioning towards the door.

Barton and Romanoff exchanged a glance before the man nodded in acquiescence. The two made their way to the front door. They stepped outside, but before the son of Poseidon could close it, Barton stuck his foot in the door.

"Listen, Jackson. Our director wants to question you personally, and if you deny him that there _will_ be trouble." His eyes flickered to Annabeth, who was standing right behind her boyfriend. He put his hand on Percy's shoulder, and little did the demigod know, but Barton stuck a tiny tracker onto his sleeve. "Your choice."

Percy yanked his arm out of Barton's grip.

Then the two agents were gone.

** Well, did you guys like it? I've had this idea stewing in my brain ever since I watched the Avengers, and then it exploded to ten times that size during the scene when Stark called Thor a demigod. :D Actually, ever since I've read Percy Jackson, I've found a bunch of awesome fangirl references hidden all over. Like on the episode ****_The Marriage of River Song_**** in Doctor Who, there were these giant banners with SPQR on them. I totally freaked out. Anyways, that's a bunny trail. Please review! :D**

**_Arrow :D_**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus—rights to Rick Riordan. I don't own the Avengers either, so all those rights go to whoever deserves them.**

"Great. Just what we need."

"Maybe it was nothing. I mean, this isn't the only visit from the feds you've gotten," Annabeth reasoned. "Either they were just stupid and curious and tried to scare you with that threat, or they're actually being serious and we need to watch our backs."

"I get the feeling we need to watch our backs," Percy said. "We need to tell Chiron. Those people can't find out about camp."

The daughter of Athena nodded. "We should take a look around, too. The house could be bugged. Those people are sneaky."

"Don't know what they could have bugged. All they did was sit on the couch and…" Percy narrowed his eyes and knelt down beside the couch. He slipped his fingers underneath one of the cushions and pulled a small black device out.

"Gods, do you think they heard?" He asked, covering up the receiver.

Annabeth looked angry. "Probably. We should destroy it."

Percy was about to toss it on the ground and step on it, but he hesitated. A sly grin spread across his face. "You know, we could have a lot of fun with this thing."

~*~

The Avengers sat around their conference table, listening closely at the voices relayed over the speakers.

_"I get the feeling we need to watch out backs,"_ that was a boy's voice—most likely Percy. _"We need to tell Chiron. Those people can't find out about camp."_

"Camp?" Steve asked, glancing at Natasha and Clint. "What are they talking about?"

Natasha shrugged.

_"We should take a look around, too. The house could be bugged. Those people are sneaky."_ That was the girl's voice.

"Smart," Tony muttered.

Fury glared at him.

_"Don't know what they could have bugged. All they did was sit on the couch and…"_ Percy's voice trailed off.

Natasha laughed abruptly. "I could have bugged a lot more than the couch."

Steve shushed her as they began to talk again.

_"Gods, do you think they heard?"_ Percy asked. His voice sounded loud, but muffled, as if he were trying to cover up the receiver.

_ "Probably. We should destroy it."_

There was silence for a moment, and everyone in the room leaned forward.

_ "You know, we could have a lot of fun with this thing,"_ Percy said.

"That's what I was trying to say!" Tony exclaimed, even though he hadn't said anything of the sort since they'd arrived in the conference room.

_"Shut up, Seaweed Brain. They can probably still hear us,_" The girl said.

_ "Exactly my point."_

_ "Just smash the stupid thing already."_

_ "All right, all right. But I still think—"_ CRUNCH!

Everyone leaned back in their chairs.

Steve sighed audibly. "Well, a lot of good that did us," he said.

"At least we learned something," Thor put in. "They spoke of a camp and someone called Chiron. That is something, right?"

"Did you plant the tracker, Barton?" Fury asked.

The man nodded. "Hasn't noticed it yet, either." He pointed to his watch, where a red light was flashing.

"Then let's follow him," Fury said. The Avengers began to stand, but the director stopped them. "I don't want all of you going, though. I can already tell this kid is tough. If he doesn't want to spill, he won't. All six of you going won't be encouraging for him, neither is it necessary. Thor and Bruce, I want you two to stay behind."

"Because we are the most intimidating?" Thor asked with a smile.

Fury raised an eyebrow, but ignored Thor's comment. "Give him a day to think things through. Then talk to him again."

~*~

Percy Jackson sat on a park bench, talking to his dad.

"Please, dad. Just don't let them find camp. Don't let them hurt Annabeth or my friends. The government is always so nosy these days, and…" His voice trailed off as he heard approaching footsteps. He glanced up to see Agent Romanoff from yesterday's encounter, along with a muscular, blond man.

"May I help you?" He asked cautiously as they drew closer.

"Percy Jackson?" The blond man asked. "Our director would like to ask you a few questions. And we would appreciate it if you came quietly." He spoke gently, yet firmly. This man was all business.

Percy's sea green eyes darted around the park. Were there more of them? He knew it couldn't just be these two, could it? He focused on a nearby fountain, drawing strength from its reassuring presence.

"You said that yesterday," he said accusingly. "And I still won't go. My business doesn't concern you."

"Oh, I think it does," Romanoff stated.

Percy licked his lips. What should he do? He couldn't go with them. They would probably torture him until he gave up information about Camp Half-Blood and the location of Mount Olympus.

Percy shook his head. "No, it doesn't. I think I'll be on my way now—" He stepped to the side, but the blond man stood in his way.

"No need to worry, Percy. We're friends. We just want a few answers," he said.

"And who might you be?" Percy snapped.

"Steve Rogers," he stated simply. "Otherwise known as Captain America."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Am I supposed to know you?"

Romanoff and Steve looked surprised.

"Don't you remember the battle right here in New York last summer?" Romanoff asked.

No, Percy wasn't there when it had happened. His mom had told him about it, though. Unfortunately, he had been preoccupied in the deepest pits of hell right then.

"I was kind of busy," he decided to say.

"Look, it doesn't matter, anyway. We just want to—" Percy cut the redheaded woman off.

"Yeah, I know. You just want to ask me some questions. But you know what? I won't answer them!" The son of Poseidon was angry now. How dare these people demand he answer their questions and act all suspicious of him? He'd just saved the world from an evil horde of giants and demons!

He turned abruptly and walked away briskly. He was getting out of there.

But he hadn't made it three feet before an arrow impaled the ground right in front of him. He skipped backwards in surprise a few steps, staring at the arrow in shock and horror. He did a quick survey of the trees, trying to spot the unknown archer. But nothing moved.

When he whirled around, fear and anger shimmered in his eyes. "What? Now you're shooting at me! Gods, just leave me alone!" He tried to run again, but this time a voice spoke from behind him.

"I wouldn't try that again."

His hand went inside his pocket and fingered the ballpoint pen there. He considered exploding the fountain and making his escape, but quickly decided against it. Wouldn't do any good to let these people know more about his powers than necessary. He turned slowly to make sure whoever was behind him wouldn't shoot.

It was that Barton man from yesterday.

And suddenly Percy couldn't take it anymore. He had saved the world—twice—put his life on the line so many times it wasn't even funny anymore, killed thousands of monsters, gone through way more than a seventeen year old kid should have to go through—and now they were questioning him?

Riptide had sprung to full size in half a second, and he was pointing the tip menacingly at Barton's neck.  
"Let me go." He heard a gun being cocked and aimed behind him, but didn't turn to look.

"Put the rifle down, Jackson." That was Steve's voice.

They're mortals, Percy thought. I can't harm them with my "rifle" anyway.

He swung Riptide towards Barton's neck, and the man ducked underneath the blade. At that same moment, Romanoff's gun was fired, but glanced off a nearby tree.

Then Percy ran.

** Well, there you go! I hope you guys all liked it. :D And I have one thing to say before I close…THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Like, I was literally blushing when I looked in my e-mail inbox and saw 78 EMAILS FROM FANFICTION! All of them were follows/favorites/reviews for this story, and it totally made my day. Thank you guys so much you have no idea how much this means to me! And to my eighteen reviewers, you guys are extra special to me because you let me know what you thought of the story and gave me inspiration and made me want to continue. Thank you!**

_**Arrow :D**_


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"Stop, Jackson! Get on the ground!"

Percy heard Agent Romanoff scream after him as he took off down the sidewalk. He needed to find somewhere to hide.

Suddenly Steve was right there beside him, trying to shove him to the ground with his shield. Percy fell into a somersault and kept running, not looking back. He heard what sounded like an airplane above him and glanced up. Sure enough, there was Ironman. Another person Percy's mother had told him about. He ran faster, almost tempted to run through the middle of the street if only to slow them down. They couldn't shoot if there were civilians nearby.

Then, as another bullet ricocheted off a streetlight, Percy decided getting smashed by a car was a better risk than being shot and tortured. He darted right into the fast lane, dodging cars and rolling over hoods when there was nowhere else to go.

He was just heading for a nearby alley when he heard a strange sound. It sounded like someone had thrown a giant frisbee—and it was getting closer. Too late, he realized what it was.

Captain America's shield slammed into his shoulder, knocking him to the ground with a sickening crack from his arm. Percy gasped in pain, but pulled himself back to his feet. His arm was burning as he continued on, but he ignored it. After journeying through Tartarus, he'd experienced worse. He turned down the alley and ran all the way to the end of it…

…only to hit a dead end.

He gasped for breath and raised Riptide in front of him. He would die before he let these people take him.

Romanoff stopped at the other end of the alley, her gun raised. "Come on, Jackson. We don't need any more violence."

Percy glanced at his arm, which was hanging at an odd angle, then back at the woman. "You're right. So why don't you just leave?"

Romanoff shook her head. "That's not how it works, Percy."

"Don't call me that," he snapped.

She grimaced. Steve joined her side and glanced at Percy sympathetically.

"Let's go, kid. This can end right now," he said.

"That's what she said," Percy jerked his head in Romanoff's direction.

Ironman landed on the rooftop above Percy and armed his weapons. Barton was on the opposite roof.

Percy heaved in another breath, worn out from his long sprint and the pain in his shoulder and arm. "If you want me," he said. "You're going to have to come and get me."

He saw Steve draw back his right arm to throw his shield and instinctively threw himself to the left. The shield smashed into the brick behind him.

Percy knew there was only one way out of this situation. He'd have to run right past Natasha and Steve without getting: A. shot, B. blasted by lasers, or C. crushed by a metal frisbee.

What the Hades, he thought. He dashed for the entrance to the alley, dodging Romanoff's bullets as they shot towards him.

As soon as he got close enough, the woman threw a roundhouse kick at him, and Percy ducked. Steve was right behind him, trying to knock him to the ground, but the son of Poseidon moved away. He turned abruptly away from Romanoff, confronting Rogers. Steve threw two deadly punches towards his gut, but Percy blocked with his arms and kicked out at the agent's ankles. Steve lost his balance momentarily—just enough time for Percy to duck out of reach of Romanoff's next punch and give her a one-way ticket to the concrete street with a swift kick. This was it; he had a clear shot at the alley entrance. If he could only get away and into the water…

As soon as he jetted off, Romanoff snagged his ankle with her hand. Percy stumbled and hit the ground, Riptide skittering out of his grip. He managed to roll to the side just as the woman brought the butt of her gun down where Percy's head had been. He got to his feet again and sprinted for the street. He heard a laser go off directly behind him, and the explosion threw him into the air. He landed on his back hard right in between two parked cars. He laid there for about three seconds trying to figure out how to breathe again.

I'm never going to get out of this alive, he thought. Suddenly the red-haired woman was standing right beside him. She began to raise her gun and her mouth opened as if she was about to tell him to put his hands in the air.

But she never got the chance. Percy anticipated what was about to happen and kicked her in the knee as hard as he could. She cried out in pain and her leg gave out underneath her. Percy launched himself to his feet and ran as fast as his tiring body could take him towards the beach. He heard Steve shout behind him and saw Ironman flying above. Unfortunately, Percy realized, he was descending. But where was the archer? A sick feeling of dread began to grow in the son of Poseidon's stomach.

He made it to the beach after five minutes of dogged running and splashed into the water. Immediately, he felt strength flood his entire body. The pain in his arm numbed, and Riptide reappeared in his pocket. He reached up to rub his shoulder a little as Ironman landed in front of him on the sand. Percy stopped, feeling something strange on his jacket. It felt like a burr, but when he pulled it off he realized it was a tiny device with a little red blinking light. A tracker.

Percy grit his teeth. What should he do with it? He heard Ironman talking, but didn't listen. Time to make his getaway. He really hated to use his powers in front of these people, but he needed to escape, and these agents needed to be put in their place. He crammed the tracker in his pocket and thrust out both of his hands towards the beach. A huge tidal wave erupted from the water behind him and surged forwards. He heard a startled cry come from his adversary before he was engulfed in seawater.

Just as he was about to dive into the water and let his father's realm protect him, he heard an ominous roar coming from above him. He looked skyward and saw a massive airship—something like a giant airplane, but a little more…sci-fi.

Yeah, Percy wasn't really sure how to describe it.

A voice Percy didn't recognize sounded over a set of loudspeakers.

"Put your weapon down, Jackson, and come quietly. We will use force if we have to."

"Haven't you already done that?" Percy called back, motioning towards Steve and a slowly recovering Ironman. He didn't see Romanoff, which could be good and bad.

He glared up at the aircraft, noticing that the archer was perched up there, an arrow ready and waiting on his bow.

"Stand down. No one needs to get hurt. Civilians are around you, kid. Do you want any of them to get hurt?"

Percy shook his head slowly.

"Then I repeat, stand down." How the man could see his small movement from all the way up on the aircraft, Percy had no idea. But he had no plans of backing down.

He grimaced. "I can't do that."

There was a moment of silence.

"Then it looks like we'll have to deal with this the hard way."

Steve jumped into action as soon as the voice finished speaking. He launched himself at Percy, throwing a wickedly fast left hook for his jaw. The son of the sea god ducked and slammed the flat of his sword into Rogers' side. Captain America stumbled backwards, giving Percy enough time to concentrate on the water and shoot a column of it at his opponent. Steve soon joined his comrade on the beach, groaning and struggling to get up.

An arrow zipped down and hissed into the water, causing Percy to look up again. The archer was already sending another arrow his way, and Percy sidestepped to avoid it. He capped Riptide, tossed it back into his pocket, and squeezed his eyes shut. He sensed hesitation from Barton as he watched Percy disarm himself and become completely vulnerable to enemy fire. He held out both of his hands and a ball of water formed between his fingertips. He rolled it around like a snowball and opened his eyes slowly. Percy rocked back on his heels and threw the ball of water into the air.

It raced towards the aircraft and Percy saw Barton fire several arrows at it, trying to knock it out of the sky before it made contact. But the arrows passed right through the water, and the ball connected with the hull of the airship. As soon as it did so, Percy slammed his foot down on the sand, and the water ball exploded in a miniature hurricane. The plane shook with such force, a man fell out and free-fell towards the water. The demigod created a water cushion for him—just because he didn't want to see anyone die.

The aircraft was not in good shape. Water was flooding into the cockpit, through windows, and washing everyone out of the hull. Barton had disappeared, and Percy guessed he'd been tossed out. The plane began to fall towards the water. It was still shaking with a mini earthquake, and this time, Percy didn't feel like saving any of them. Maybe it was the murderous violence he'd gotten from his time in Tartarus, or just the fact that these people were nosy, cruel, and completely out of their league by trying to fight him.  
Percy dove straight into the water, figuring the plane would be just fine on its own. He swam away as fast as he could, hoping he could avoid the explosion that was imminent.

**Well, there you have it, peeps. Sorry it took me so long to update. :P I've been busier than I planned, and I'm usually never busy. :P :P Anyways, I just want to answer a question someone asked me. Actually, I answered it in a PM, but I'll do it for you guys, too. Someone asked me if Percy was going to be weak, kinda middle-strong, or completely kickbutt in the story. He'll have his losses, and he'll have his wins, just like in this chapter. He kicked the Avenger's behinds, but he also got his arm broken. So, basically what I'm saying is: Don't expect a hurt/comfort fic but don't expect an All-Powerful-Percy fic, either. We got to see some of Percy's darker side in this chappie. I know, I purposefully made him that way to kind of not let people forget what he went through and how it changed him. We might see some changes in Annabeth, too, later on. Anyways, okay, one more thing before I let you guys go. :) I just wanted to say…THANK YOU SO MUCH! Seriously, almost 150 followers and 80 favorites? Plus over 40 reviews?! I cannot put into words how grateful I am to you guys. YOU are my inspiration to keep writing—yes, every single one of you! Thank you! Wait, sorry…not done. Can I have a moment to fangirl first? Guess what kind of car our new rental is? A Prius! Too bad it's black, and not blue, but…EEEEE! I'm so happy. :D If you're a true PJO fangirl, you'll understand my ecstatic-ness. :D :D And I was watching Doctor Who (I forget which episode) but the Doctor was reading this magazine called….BEANO! HAHAHA! I laughed my butt off! Anyways, that's enough for now. This author's note is entirely too long. :P**

_**Arrow :D**_


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

** Btw, there quite possibly will be some Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D characters in the upcoming chapters maybe, so just preparing you. :)**

The six Avengers sat around the conference table, all watching Nick Fury, waiting for him to give them orders on what to do next.

"The kid's smart. That wild goose chase he led us on gave him at least a day's lead. Putting the tracker on a fish? That was pretty clever." Fury crossed his arms.

"It's my fault. I suggested we follow the tracker," Bruce said. "I should have known someone couldn't stand that much pressure without getting crushed."

"Laying blame isn't going to help anyone," Fury said. "And it was all we had. Barton was the last one to see him." Everyone turned towards Hawkeye.

Clint shook his head. "He just dove into the water. Never resurfaced."

"And what about those freak powers he had? No normal person can just knock one of our planes out of the sky with just his bare hands," Tony said.

"I did some research," Fury said, pushing a file at least two inches thick across the table.

"Shouldn't we have been notified of this research _before_ we went after him?" Tony asked.

Fury's face was deadpan. "My mistake." Then he continued, "Percy Jackson's been on the Index for several years, ever since he went missing at age 12."

"What's so special about being missing? I mean, yeah, it's a shame, but aren't there a lot of missing persons these days?" Steve asked, glancing around the table.

Nick Fury nodded at the file. "Read it."

Captain America leafed through the pages, his eyes growing wider with each one. When he finished, he shook his head and passed it to Stark.

"Kid's strange, I'll admit that."

Tony snorted abruptly, and when everyone turned to look at him, he put an innocent mask on.

"What? It's not every day you see something as amusing as this." He pointed at the file, and the rest of the Avengers resumed ignoring him.

"What's our next move?" Thor asked.

"I've been in contact with a certain agent," Fury stated. "He thinks he could bring him in by week's end."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "How would he do that? I mean, we're the _Avengers_, and we couldn't even get him to come peacefully."

"And you also showed up with guns blazing," Fury finished.

"They were all stun bolts," Hawkeye said. "Even my arrows weren't aimed to kill."

"But did he know that?" Fury asked, both eyebrows raised.

Silence fell.

"I'm going to give my agent a chance. I'm confident that even if he can't get the kid to come quietly, you five can take him down. I'll have you around the perimeter, just in case."

Natasha looked disappointed she wouldn't get a piece of the action, but she said nothing.

"Agent Romanoff, as soon as you're feeling better, we'll let you have some of the fun," Nick Fury said, smiling a little.

Natasha nodded solemnly, glancing down at her knee brace. Percy Jackson had banged it up pretty badly.

"Dismissed," Fury stated.

As the Avengers left, Barton put his arm around Romanoff's waist. "Don't worry," he said, pantomiming a punch. "I'll give him one for you."

~*~

Percy swung open the door to his mom's apartment. He glanced around, but didn't see anyone home. He spotted a note on the kitchen table and went over to read it.

_Having lunch with Paul. I'll be back at 1:30. Love you, Percy._  
_ Mom_

Percy smiled, then set the note back down. It was only one o'clock now, so he'd be on his own getting back to camp. He was hoping he'd be able to borrow Paul's car to get there, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. He swung his injured arm experimentally. It still hurt and looked a little crooked, but it was a lot better than it had been a few hours before. He hoped the Avengers fell for his "tracker on a fish" trick.

Just then, the door swung open and banged back against the wall. Sally Jackson (Now technically Blofis—not Jackson—but Percy still liked to think of her as a Jackson) stormed into the apartment, her husband Paul right on her heels.

"…get some ambrosia," Sally was saying. "He'll need…" Percy's mom spotted her son in the kitchen and ran forward to hug him.

"Oh, Percy. We heard about what happened. Are you okay?" She pulled away and held him at arm's length, examining her son for injuries.

"My arm's just a little banged up, that's all," the son of Poseidon replied, gesturing towards his arm.

Sally shook her head, then disappeared down the hallway and into the linen closet. Percy knew she was searching for the ambrosia and nectar they kept hidden in there. Paul took a quick look at his step-son's arm.

"I can straighten this out. And with a little bit of that godly food of yours, you should be in good shape in no time." He smiled a little and patted Percy on his good shoulder.

Percy smiled and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"All right, this might hurt a little." A hot spike of pain shot up Percy's arm as his step-dad popped it back into place. He thought he was going to get sick, but the nausea quickly dispersed after a minute.  
"Thanks, Paul," he said, his voice cracking a little. His mom came back into the room, a sling in one hand and some ambrosia in the other. Having a son that was a child of one of the Big Three, you kept things like full arm slings in your first aid kit all the time.

After she had fitted it on her son's arm and given him another hug, Percy knew it was time to leave.

"I need to get to camp. I have to tell Chiron about this. No doubt these "Avengers" will be coming here next to look for me." He hesitated, wanting to take his parents with him to Camp Half-Blood. But he knew that wouldn't work. Seeing as they were both mortal, they wouldn't be allowed inside the camp's boundaries.

"Don't worry," Paul said, sensing his distress. "We'll be fine. I'll stay here while your mother drives you there, just in case these people come looking here. Don't want them messing up our nice apartment." He smiled a little at that last part, trying to cheer his step-son up.

"Thanks, Paul," Percy said again.

Sally grabbed her purse and car keys. "Let's go, Percy. We need to get out of here before the Avengers get here."

"Hopefully they fell for my little surprise," Percy muttered, walking out the door.

"What surprise?" Paul asked.

The son of Poseidon grinned. "Oh, I just put their tracker somewhere for safe keeping."

Then Sally and Percy Jackson were gone.

When they got to camp, Percy gave his mom a hug and ran up Half-Blood Hill. He stood at the top for a moment, taking in the sight of his beloved second home. Then he jogged down the hill and towards the Big House. He hadn't been here since last summer, and he was happy to be back. Percy had Iris-messaged Chiron to tell him about the visit from Barton and Romanoff he'd gotten a few days ago, and now he ran towards his teacher with worse news.

Annabeth was just leaving her cabin as Percy jogged past.

"Percy!" She called after him.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around, grinning from ear to ear. "Hey, Wise Girl!"

She started towards him, then stopped. "Percy, what did you do to yourself this time?" Then a darker thought seemed to occur to her and she added, "Or was it those agents?"

Percy bit his lip. "Yeah, except it wasn't those same two people. The whole Avengers team was there, like they were on the news, you know? That one guy, I think it was Captain America, he hit me with his frisbee." He motioned towards his arm.

"Shield," Annabeth corrected. "The whole team went after you? Oh gods. We are in serious trouble. Have you told Chiron?"

"I Iris-messaged him after their first visit, like you said. But I haven't told him about this yet," Percy replied.

Annabeth seemed to relax for a minute and smiled. "I need to put you on a leash, Seaweed Brain. You wouldn't get in so much trouble." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Come on, Chiron will want to hear about this."

** All rights for the tracker-on-a-fish idea go to Finwitch1. Thank you so much Fin! :D I hope all of you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much for all of the support! :) And first person to figure out my Doctor Who reference gets a shoutout! :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

** Okay, here's the deal guys. This story takes place after the first Avengers, but before the second Avengers and before Captain America 2. So Agents of SHIELD season 1 before the whole HYDRA invasion thing happened. Got it? I hope that's right, I really suck at timelines. :/ Anyways, if you guys have any questions or anything, feel free to ask in a comment/PM. :D**

"What do you mean I'm not going?" Sky protested, following her leader into his office.

"I mean you're not going," Coulson said, shoving a stack of files into his desk drawer.

"But why not? I mean, I've helped out on other missions," she said, standing in front of Agent Coulson with a glare.

"Sky," he said, stopping what he was doing. "This mission is critical. This kid is running around New York armed and dangerous. The Avengers couldn't bring him in, so I'm going to try a different approach. And I just don't think you've had enough experience with this kind of thing."

"This kind of thing? Coulson, I—"

"Sky, I'm done arguing with you about it. You're staying on the Bus. End of story."

Sky recoiled at the harsh tone very uncommon for Agent Coulson to use. She had hoped maybe if she pushed him a little farther, he'd let her go. She knew she'd be able to help. She was great with kids! But she realized she'd pushed him too far, and now nothing would make him change his mind.

"Fine," she said with a sigh, leaving the office. "I'll just wait here, a safe distance away from all the fighting. Playing checkers."

Coulson glanced up at her as she left and shook his head. A red light on his communications system blinked rapidly, and quickly answered the call.

"Director Fury," he said.

"Agent Coulson, is your team ready to move out?"

"Yes, sir. Have you gotten a lock on his location?"

"No. He's gone off the grid. I sent an agent to his apartment, but his stepfather was the only one there. He claimed he had no idea where his son went."

"Did you search the apartment?"

"Not yet. We're going to wait and see if he turns up. If he's still gone by tomorrow morning, I'm putting you in charge of searching the place."

"Understood, Sir," Coulson said, nodding even though he knew the Director couldn't see him.  
"Good. I'll let you know when we've got him." With those last words, the call ended.

Coulson sat down at his desk and picked up Percy Jackson's file. He stared at the picture paper-clipped to the first page of the teenage boy in the pizza parlor. Poor kid. He was so young.

Coulson stared at it for a few minutes, letting a bit of sympathy for the kid sink in. Then he quickly closed the folder and shoved it into his desk, not wanting to think about it. Perseus Jackson was a dangerous person with superpowers. And Coulson himself an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. There was no time to be sympathetic.

~*~

A pink sunrise dawned on the Big House at 5 AM, the hazy morning light leading Percy to his destination.

The demigod climbed the stairs up to the old farmhouse before knocking on the door. Chiron swung it open, looking awake, but still battling off sleep. There was a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Percy?" He asked.

"I've got to go back to my parents, Chiron," the son of Poseidon said.

Chiron frowned. "I'm not sure if that's the wisest thing to do, Percy," the centaur said. "Staying here at Camp Half-Blood would the safest option. You do know S.H.I.E.L.D. will stop at nothing to find you, do you not?"

Percy nodded. "I know, Chiron, but I have to go. I can't let my parents take the rap for me."

Chiron remained silent, and for a moment Percy thought the old centaur would forbid him to go, but he finally nodded. "I take it your arm is feeling better?"

Percy looked confused for a minute, then glanced down at his formerly injured arm. "Yeah, it's fine now. I just needed a little ambrosia," the demigod said.

"Stay safe. Don't let those mortals catch you. Camp Half-Blood is always here for you, Percy. We're ready to fight if that's what needs to happen."

The demigod felt a little warmth in his chest at his teacher's words. "Thanks, Chiron," he said, stepping forward to embrace the old centaur.

Then he broke away and turned away from the Big House, whistling for Blackjack.

His jet black pegasus shot into the air somewhere above the stables and flew towards him.  
"May the gods be with you." Chiron said quietly as he watched his student disappear over Half-Blood Hill astride his midnight ride.

~*~

Percy trudged up the stairs to his apartment, quickly finding the key in his pocket and unlocking the front door. He'd told Blackjack to wait for him on the roof and be ready just in case something happened.

He pushed the door open and locked it behind him, walking into the kitchen quietly so as not to wake his mom and step-dad. He checked the clock on the microwave: 5:32.

He searched the refrigerator for something to eat before finding a plate of muffins. Percy was unsure of what he was going to do until his parents woke up—or until something actually happened.

Careful not to spill any crumbs on the couch, he clicked on the TV and flipped through the stations. He stopped on one of the many news channels and watched as footage from yesterday's attack played.

"Percy?"

The sudden voice startled the young demigod and he dropped his half-eaten muffin, leaping to his feet. Riptide was in his hands in an instant, though still in pen form.

His heartbeat slowed back to a normal pace when he saw it was only his stepfather lowering a baseball bat with a relieved looking Sally behind him.

"Don't worry, it's just me," Percy said, trying to calm them down. He felt a little guilty. He should have thought to turn the TV down. 

It was at least nine o'clock before they arrived. There was a knock at the door, and Percy rose to answer it. Sally was at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a donut, and Paul was in the shower. Percy made a mental note to bring Blackjack a donut too.

Percy glanced through the peephole and cracked the door open as far as the chain would allow. "Yes?" He asked, his voice only slightly suspicious of the man outside.

"I'm here to see Percy Jackson?" He said.

Percy stood silently for a minute, trying to think of something to say. It was always awkward when someone asked to see you and they had no idea it was actually you they were talking to. It happened all the time over the phone.

"It is," was all that came out of the demigod's mouth. "I mean," he elaborated after seeing the confused expression on the man's face. "I'm him. I'm…Percy Jackson."

The man's face brightened. "Phil Coulson. Mind if I come in?" He motioned at the chain still holding the door closed.

Percy glanced back at his mom, now standing and watching the scene at the door. He shook his head. "I don't think so," he began to close the door, but the man named Phil Coulson wedged his foot in the gap quickly.'

"Please, Mr. Jackson, I'd just like to talk with you and your parents."

Percy knew this man was from S.H.I.E.L.D., but he sure didn't act like it. First off, he said please; secondly, he called him Mr. Jackson; and third, well…he just looked like a generally nice person.

The man wore a gray suit and had thinning brown hair. His eyes were bright and friendly, and his lips were curved in a small, polite smile.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it from here," Percy finally replied.

The man glanced behind him down the hallway, and Percy knew it was only for emphasis, not because Phil Coulson was nervous. "I don't think I should. Ears everywhere, you know?"

He sounded friendly enough. He looked kind enough. Percy bit his lip, a recent habit that Annabeth had been after him to drop. Just because someone dressed in a suit and tie and had manners didn't mean they were any form of the word "good".

Percy shrugged, unlatching the chain on the door and letting Phil Coulson inside the apartment. Whether he was S.H.I.E.L.D. or not, he knew Coulson would stop at nothing to speak with him. Besides, Percy figured he deserved a few extra points for good manners.

**Well, that was kind of boring. Basically just a filler with a little itty bitty cliffie for the next chappie. :D And a special shoutout to NightOwl for getting my Doctor Who reference! :)**

_**Arrow :D**_


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

The doorbell was ringing.

Sally told Phil, as the man wanted to be called, to hang on a second as she answered the door. Percy stayed put on the couch, his eyes wandering from Phil to the door and back again. He really hoped it wasn't more S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

Fortunately, though, so far the man named Phil Coulson had been quite friendly. He'd politely accepted the coffee that his mom had offered him and carefully introduced himself to Paul. They'd just begun talking seriously—which meant Percy answered questions and Phil listened intently—when the doorbell had distracted them.

"Hello, Mrs. Jackson. We're here to see Percy?"

The voice was familiar to the demigod, and he rose to confirm his suspicions.

Nico and Annabeth stood at the door, the former's eyes darting around the interior of the apartment.  
"Yes, he's here. Though I'm afraid now's not a very good time…" Sally said, obviously trying to warn them off.

"Don't worry, Mrs. Jackson, we'll only be a minute," Annabeth said.

Percy could tell something was up by the way she spoke, her voice a little shaky and her beautiful gray eyes flicking about nervously.

Annabeth was never nervous.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Percy asked, taking his mom's place at the door.

"We need to talk, Percy," Nico said quietly, a warning in his eyes.

"Actually," Percy lowered his voice to a whisper. "You guys need to go. We have…company," he motioned a little towards the couch. Phil waved when Annabeth and Nico's eyes went to him.  
"I know, that's what we need to talk to you about," Annabeth replied quietly.

Percy turned back around, grinning nervously at the company and his parents. "I'll just…be right back. They want to tell me the homework assignment for…that day I was sick," he finished lamely. He mentally facepalmed and quickly went into the hall with his friends, closing the door softly behind him.

"What's up?" He said again, this time more seriously.

"Chiron just told us," Annabeth said. "He's been in contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. Apparently they will stop at nothing to find you, take you in, and questions you. They want answers, Percy."

"Yeah, so? I already knew that," he said, not unkindly.

"So, now they know there's a whole camp full of people like you, and they practically interrogated Chiron while they were talking to him," Nico said.

"What?" Percy asked, incredulous. "But…why would Chiron even message them in the first place? Why—"

"It was a mistake, Percy. That's all," Annabeth said. "Our point is, they're even more eager to find you, and this time, if they do, they're not letting you escape."

Percy grinned. "Don't worry, Wise Girl. I'll get away. Besides, we can always stay at Camp Half-Blood until this all blows over."

"No," Nico said, a hint of desperation in his voice. "They found it."

"They found…Camp Half-Blood?"

He nodded.

"When did this happen?" Percy asked incredulously.

"About ten minutes ago," Nico said. "They've got the location pinpointed, but they can't get in."

"But how do they even see it? I thought it was invisible to mortals," Percy argued.

Annabeth grimaced. "Are you familiar with the Norse gods?"

Percy nodded slowly. "A few, but, I mean, that's not really my area of expertise."

"They've got Thor," she said, studying his expression to make sure he knew who she was talking about. "Apparently, he's a Norse god, and part of the Avengers. He can see the camp, but he can't get in, thankfully."

"But…how did you guys get here then?" Percy asked.

"We shadow-traveled," Nico replied.

Percy realized just how tired his friend looked. He wanted to invite them in—Nico looked like he could use a glass of water or something—but he was unsure if that was safe now.

Suddenly, Percy's cousin leaned heavily against Annabeth, slumping against her shoulder. His face was deathly pale—even more so than usual. Annabeth looked concerned and supported him, glancing at Percy.

"I think Nico needs to rest for a while," she said.

"Yeah," Percy replied, moving to go back inside. "Come on in, he can chill in my room." The son of Poseidon was confused. Why would Nico be so tired when he hadn't even shadow-traveled that far? He didn't get exhausted like this unless he'd gone thousands of miles.

When the three entered the apartment, the adults glanced up curiously.

"Hey, mom, dad, um…" Suddenly Percy was at a loss for words.

"What happened to Nico?" Sally asked, rising from the couch and moving closer to feel his forehead. The son of Hades' eyelids drooped.

"Oh, he's just a little tired from…" Percy began, desperately trying to think up an excuse. He couldn't just say he'd shadow-traveled in front of Phil Coulson.

"Soccer practice," Annabeth filled in. "I just picked my brother up from soccer practice."

"Right," Percy said, leading them to his bedroom. "He's just gonna take a nap in my room, okay?"  
"Sure," Sally said, quickly turning back to Coulson.

"Must've been a rough practice," Percy heard Coulson say. He hoped he was just imagining the note of suspicion in his voice.

"Guess so," Paul laughed.

Percy knew his parents were trying to play it off, but he got the feeling Coulson wasn't falling for it.

He shut the door behind them and helped Annabeth flop Nico onto the bed. He was sleeping before his head hit the pillow. As the daughter of Athena pulled the covers up to his chin, Percy glanced over at the door, making sure it was still closed.

"I'll try to get rid of that guy real fast," he said.

Annabeth nodded and stood so close to Percy he could feel her warm breath on his cheeks. Her fingers entwined with his as she whispered to him. "Something's up with Nico, Percy. He shouldn't be this tired after shadow-traveling from Camp Half-Blood." Her concern was masked on her face, but not in her voice.

Percy nodded. "I thought about that. Has he been going somewhere else? Is he sick?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know, but we should find out soon. This could be dangerous. Remember what happened last time he did this too often? He almost turned into a shadow himself."

"I know," Percy replied grimly. "I better get back out there," he motioned towards the door.

"Right," his girlfriend tightened her grip on his hand. "Let's go."

They left the room, Annabeth shutting the door softly behind them.

"Oh, you're back," Phil said, glancing at Annabeth curiously. "We were just discussing your grades in school. Seems you've done pretty well this year, Percy." He smiled.

Percy smiled back nervously. "Uh…yeah. Thanks. This is the first year in a while that I haven't…uh…flunked out."

Phil nodded. "And why did you flunk out before?"

Percy swallowed hard. "Well, I was just…easily distracted. ADHD, you know?" He laughed nervously, and Annabeth smiled a little too.

Coulson smiled and nodded. "So your parents tell me you were kidnapped last year?" He suddenly became a lot more serious.

Percy feigned a look of sadness, along with a hint of fear, which wasn't hard when he thought about his trip through Tartarus. Annabeth squeezed his hand and leaned closer to him, trying to pretend like she was comforting him. Percy suspected a bit of that was real, though.

"Yeah," he said lowly, glancing down at his shoes.

"I'm sorry," Coulson said, looking truly concerned for a moment. But then the expression vanished and he continued to ask questions. "How long were you…away?" He asked, seeming unsure of how to phrase it.

"Eight months," Percy supplied. "I was seventeen at the time. I'm eighteen now."

"Only eight months? I was told it was almost nine," Phil said.

Percy was alarmed for a minute, remembering that his time on the quest counted as his "kidnapped time". He'd completely forgotten that this man had no idea he'd been on an ancient Greek flying trireme saving Rome.

"Oh, uh…yeah. Eight months, nine months—same thing." He glanced at his parents, who were tracking the conversation warily.

"I see," Coulson replied, suddenly glancing down at his jacket pocket when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, scanning quickly through a text. He narrowed his eyes, then looked back up at Percy and Annabeth.

"Is there a problem?" Sally asked innocently.

"No…no, everything's fine," Phil said distractedly, still watching Percy unnervingly. "Actually, that was just one of my…friends."

Percy was confused. Why did Phil all of a suddenly not seem to know what was going on? And why did he sound twice as suspicious as he did before? Then it hit him. They'd literally just found Camp Half-Blood about fifteen minutes ago. Of course S.H.I.E.L.D. would tell their agent that was currently in contact with their "victim".

Percy gulped.

"He wants to meet you, Percy. Your parents, too," Phil said, seeming to have regained his composure. He sounded pleasant enough, but his voice held an underlying hardness. He was telling them to come with him, whether they wanted to or not.

"Maybe another day," Sally said, rising from the couch. She was obviously trying to get this man out of their apartment. ASAP.

"Oh? Are you busy today?" Phil asked, standing respectfully.

"Umm…yes, actually, we are," Paul said, placing a hand on Phil's shoulder and gently, but forcefully, steering him towards the door.

But before they got there, Phil stopped suddenly, and a nervous look crossed Paul's face. "Actually, Mr. Blofis," he said quietly. "I think he wants to meet you now."

As Percy watched, his hand gripping Annabeth's, his sea green eyes caught sight of a small, shiny gun pressed against his stepfather's side.

**Well, there you go peeps. And if anyone was wondering what the Doctor Who reference was, it was this sentence "Silence fell." Get it? :) Anyways, there you go. Thanks everyone for following/favoriting/reviewing!**

_**Arrow :D**_


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Percy had uncapped Riptide in a heartbeat, and the celestial bronze sword sprung to its full size. Right now, Percy honestly couldn't care less if that just gave Coulson more evidence to use against him, he just wanted S. .L.D. and all its agents out of his life. Right now.

"Let him go," Percy said, lowering his sword so it was level with the agent's face. He knew very well that the blade would pass right through mortals, but Phil Coulson didn't know that.

"Don't try anything, Jackson," Phil stated calmly. His face told the demigod he was in complete control; there was nothing for him to worry about. "You're father's life is at stake, here. Besides that, backup will be here any second." The agent never broke eye contact with the demigod.

Percy could almost feel the tension in the room, which was skyrocketing by the second.

They both stood there at a stalemate for several seconds, both waiting for the other to make his move. Percy ran through every option he could think of. He couldn't just call Blackjack and jump out a window—too many people for that. He couldn't just swing his sword at Coulson, because it would pass right through him and he would know Percy was weaponless. Plus, there was the risk that Coulson would shoot his dad if Percy made a move. Careful not to move his eyes from the agent, he inconspicuously nudged Annabeth's shoe with his own.

Percy heard police sirens wailing, tires screeching.

"Paul, duck!" Annabeth screamed, suddenly yanking something small and metallic from her pocket and launching it at Agent Coulson. Percy's step-dad obeyed, hitting the ground as Annabeth's pocket knife pinned Coulson's sleeve to the wall. By the way the Agent grit his teeth, he figured his girlfriend hadn't completely missed his skin.

Percy was on him in a second, using his left arm to press the agent's shoulders against the wall and the other to hold Riptide menacingly against his throat. "Drop the gun," he growled.

Coulson hadn't been caught completely off guard, he had still retained his hold on his weapon.

Percy applied more pressure, shoving him harder against the apartment's wall. "Now," he barked loudly. He was careful not to get Riptide to close to the man's throat. It would seriously suck if it passed straight through and lodged in the wall.

Annabeth, seeing that Agent Coulson was not relenting and Percy was fresh out of spare hands, she stepped forward and promptly yanked the agent's wrist backwards, prepared to break it if she had to.  
"Drop the gun, agent," she said lowly. "For your own sake."

Percy could see the gears turning in the agent's hand. He was smart, Percy knew. Smart enough to be one of the best agents in S.H.I.E.L.D. He was up to something, he could feel it.

But they were out of time. He could hear raised voices coming from outside their apartment complex and cars screaming to a stop.

Phil dropped the gun. Annabeth snatched it up, glancing at Percy.

"We need to get out of here," she said. "Paul, Sally, go downstairs and get in the car. Keep the engine running."

The two adults nodded, knowing that Annabeth and Percy knew what they were doing were very well trained in it.

"I'll get Nico," Annabeth said. "Tie him up. Make sure to gag him, too." Annabeth tossed her boyfriend a coil of rope stashed underneath a couch cushion—in case of emergencies. When you were a demigod, you were ready for anything. Percy got to work tying up Coulson, who was glaring at him like no tomorrow. Percy saw something else behind his eyes, though. Something sneaky. He didn't like it.

Percy grabbed a kitchen cloth and shoved it in Coulson's mouth before dragging the guy towards the front door. He kept Riptide at his throat to discourage the agent from any funny business. Footsteps were pounding up the stairs. They had to hurry.

Annabeth, an unconscious Nico, Percy, and his captive made it to the apartment's garage before they were met with resistance. Percy motioned for Annabeth to get Nico to the car. She got in and left the door open, frantically calling his name.

Percy held his blade close to Coulson's throat, warning off the three agents approaching him, guns held at the ready. He needed to make a dash for the car, but he was going to need a distraction so he didn't get shot. Suddenly, Paul revved the engine, an ear-splitting sound that echoed in the dank garage. Two of the agents jumped a little in surprise, slightly stunned. The third fired blindly, striking a support beam.

Percy ran for the car, Coulson being shoved along in front of him. Jumping in and yelling at his dad to floor it before he'd even closed the door, Percy capped Riptide. The car shot through the parking garage, zooming out of the exit without stopping for the few agents who were scrambling to get out of the way. Gunfire popped against the hood and bumper, and one lucky shot broke the back window's glass.

Shards of glass rained down on Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Coulson. Percy threw himself to the left, trying to shield the unconscious son of Hades from the glass. Coulson cringed away from the jagged pieces.

Percy heard his mom scream as Paul narrowly avoided an armored truck parked parallel in front of them. More soldiers were hiding behind the car doors and shooting at them, shattering more glass and making the Prius rock dangerously to the left.

Nico groaned and stirred, lifting heavy eyelids to meet the commotion. When he saw what was going on, he closed his dark eyes again and collapsed against Annabeth.

Paul drove the Prius onto the highway, the speedometer nearly maxing out. He swerved between other cars precariously. Percy knew they were all going to die.

Gunfire continued to crack against the vehicle, and Percy was sure the outside looked like they'd just driven through a major hailstorm.

They were beginning to near Camp Half-Blood. If they could only make it a few more minutes…  
Suddenly the car jerked and shuddered, an ominous roar building from all the workings underneath. Then a blinding red and white light sent the blue Prius flying into the air, spinning end over end, before it came crashing back to earth upside down.

The only thing Percy registered before blacking out was Annabeth screaming and Nico waking up again to ask, "What the Hades—?!"

**Dun dun dunnnn! Mwuahahaha! Sorry not sorry about that cliffie XD But you should be thankful I gave you two chapters instead of just one, even if it was really short. :)**

_**Arrow :D**_


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"Any news?"

Captain America's voice buzzed in Tony Stark's ear. "Nope, sorry Capsicle."

"Stark, how many times—"

"Both of you, shut up. We've got a job to do," Clint interrupted them. Tony could almost feel his piercing glare. The guy knew how to have fun, but when it came down to work, he could set his mind to anything and be deadly serious about it.

"What's the point of us even being here if we're too far away to even see anything?" Steve asked, his voice sounding irritated.

"No idea. Fury always has a plan, though. Just be thankful you're not back at base with Bruce and Nat." Clint's voice again.

"I'm just wondering who his special agent is," Tony said, getting up from his bench to walk around and stretch for a minute. He had patrolling the sky and hanging out on top of buildings, but he gotten bored of it and figured the little kids in the park would get a kick out of seeing Ironman relaxing on one of the green "Recycling makes the world go 'round" benches. He was right.

"Barton, can you see anything from the Highfells?" Steve asked, referring to the apartment complex Hawkeye was perched atop.

"There's a car chase. It just started," his voice sounded excited. "There's no way they're going to escape."

"What? A car chase? Come on, Legolas, fill me in!" Tony asked, shooting into the sky once more.

"At least six cop cars, two armored vehicles, and seven of our trucks are chasing it. At least thirty agents, maybe twelve police officers. They're chasing a blue Prius. Can't tell who's inside, but it's gotta be Percy Jackson."

"I see them," Tony replied, spying the scene. It was far away, so far he could only identify it by the plume of smoke rising from the small blue car. "We should get down there," he said.

Steve hesitated. "Fury told us to stay here…There's gotta be a good reason why he wanted us to stay so far back."

"Well, you can stay here if you want, Mr. Always Follow the Rules," Stark replied. "I'm getting in on the action."

"Stark, no, wait—" Clint's voice was cut off as Tony shut down his communicating device. "Don't need you telling me how to do things," he muttered to himself.

~*~

When Percy awoke, which seemed to be only a matter of seconds after he'd blacked out, he heard voices shouting. One in particular caught his attention.  
"Stark!" The deep voice continued to let loose a string of curses that Percy really wished he'd never heard.

He groaned, trying to look around and assess the situation as quickly as possible and devise a plan to get everyone out.

He glanced out of one of the hopelessly broken windows and saw Half-Blood Hill right beside them. The only thing keeping them from getting there was the deadly 40-yard dash that would take them straight through a mass of cop cars and swarms of agents. A helicopter was hovering somewhere above them.

His parents were conscious, and so was Agent Coulson. Paul had a bloodied nose and Sally and Phil were covered in nicks and bruises, but they otherwise looked okay. Annabeth was unconscious with a nasty looking bump on her head. A shard of glass had sliced her right cheek open, leaving a trail of blood running down her jaw. Nico looked relatively okay, even though he too was coated in a fine layer of blood and various debris from the car. He looked dazed, and Percy was unsure of whether he'd even be able to stand up without passing out.

"Is everyone okay?" Sally called out, already struggling to throw open the passenger side door.

"Yeah," Percy replied after checking to make sure his girlfriend's pulse was still strong and rhythmic. "Don't open the door yet, mom. I've got an idea." He couldn't just let everyone get out of the car and be taken away and imprisoned for life. He needed a way to get six people into Camp Half-Blood safely and relatively quickly.

And Percy Jackson had an idea.

He helped Nico unbuckle his seatbelt and sit right sight up inside the car and did the same for Annabeth. That was Annabeth—making sure to buckle her seatbelt when they're being chased by the government's top security agency. He gave her a quick kiss, knowing very well that it may be their last. His parents had already finagled their way right side up again, and Sally was nice enough to help Phil.

Then he moved over to the left window, using his sword hilt to clean all the glass shards away before he climbed out. He was careful, making sure not to hit any of his fellow demigods with the celestial bronze weapon.

Phil Coulson had righted himself too, and Percy was glad his mom hadn't tried to help him. She was nice like that, and sometimes Percy wished she wasn't. Some people didn't deserve it.

"Be careful, Percy," Sally called after him as he clambered out of the car.

"Be ready to run as soon as I finish," he said.

As soon as the son of Poseidon's feet hit the concrete, the air erupted in shouts.  
"Get down, Jackson! On the ground!"

"Drop the weapon!"

"Hands in the air!"

Percy was unsure of which one they actually wanted him to do, but it didn't matter anyways. He moved his sword threateningly, then leaped on top of the car, which technically meant he was standing on the bottom, since it was upside down. The demigod tried not to think about it. Too confusing.  
The helicopter above churned the air, making Percy's jet-black hair whip around his face. His sea green eyes flashed dangerously.

"Listen to me!" Percy shouted above the noise. "Just shut up and listen, alright?" That effectively silenced the crowd before him. Percy's heart thudded furiously in his chest, partly from anger and adrenaline and partly from fear.

"Take this as your one and only warning," he yelled above the roar of the helicopter. The blue Prius was warm under his tennis shoes, uncomfortably warm. "If you try to mess us, we will fight back. You cannot—no, you will not—take them from me. You can't have me, you can't have Annabeth, and you will never, and I repeat, never take my camp." He felt the power of the nearby ocean roiling inside him, ready to be let loose.

"Do not shoot to kill, I repeat, do not shoot to kill," Percy heard the quiet voice say. It was a man's voice, and a voice that was carelessly loud.

As soon as the soldier yelled, "Open fire!" Percy had a wall of seawater ready, greeting the bullets with watery defiance.

Percy's hands were thrust out in front of him, his eyes closed tight in concentration as he protected the car below and himself from the spray of gunfire.

He heard bewildered shouts and heavy footfalls, obviously soldiers trying to get closer—or farther away, Percy could tell. He felt a familiar tugging in his gut and clenched his left hand into a fist, his right hand still clutching Riptide.

The wall of water surged forward, and suddenly, like a dam exploding, it crashed down over the agents, washing them further down the road and severely injuring several. Percy didn't even care anymore. He unleashed his rage and power all in one go, gallons upon gallons of water smashing and breaking everything in its path. He wished Jason was here with him to strike that annoying helicopter out of the sky, but he wasn't, so Percy would have to do it himself. He raised his sword, and a tidal wave stretched up out of the ocean and into the sky, slapping the chopper down and swallowing it. The water crashed back down, and Percy held both his hands up, shielding the car and the people inside from the crushing force of the wave.

He'd learned to master his powers since the Giant War. Though it still got out of control sometimes—and sometimes being rarely—he was confident with his ability to manipulate water. His legs started to shake a little as the tidal wave finally receded and he surveyed the damage. It still took a lot out of him, doing big things with his powers like that. His stamina had definitely increased, but not by much.

He jumped down from the car and peered inside the shattered window. "You guys can get out now. I think I put SHIELD out of commission for now." Paul helped his wife out of the upended car before grabbing Phil and keeping a firm grip on his forearm. The agent had a trickle of blood running down his forehead and onto his gag.

Nico staggered away from the wreck next, his pale skin bright in the deepening dusk. Then Percy carried Annabeth bridal style up Half-Blood Hill, his family and hostage following.

**Did you guys like it? We finally got to see some badass Percy action. :D Anyways, did you all get my dam reference? ;) Thanks for all the reviews everyone! It makes me so happy to see you guys are enjoying the story :D I would do review replies, but the chapters would take twice as long to get out because there are so many of you reviewing! :D THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR READING/REVIEWING/FAVORITING/FOLLOWING! :D :D And someone asked me if I have this story posted on Quotev too, and yeah, I do. Same story, title, and everything, my name is just different. I'm Reyna Quicksilver instead of BlackShaftedArrow. If any of you are on Quotev too, feel free to leave me a comment and we can chat! :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

As soon as they reached the crest of Half-Blood Hill, the Prius exploded.

They group practically jumped out of their skin as the car erupted in fiery light, and Nico winced, shielding his eyes from the blast. Thankfully, they were far enough away so that all they felt was the heat.

Percy stole a glance at Phil, who seemed completely unfazed. The demigod frowned.

"Darn, I really liked that car," Paul muttered.

"Sorry, dad," Percy replied.

The SHIELD agents began to stir.

"We should go," Nico said, his voice raspy. Percy nodded.

After a few minutes of the demigods allowing the mortals in Camp Half-Blood, everyone was inside the borders. Annabeth had woken up, and Percy set her down so she could walk.

Despite his exhaustion, Percy's grip on Agent Coulson's bound arms was tight—almost to the point where the demigod was pretty sure the man's wrists would be numb for a while.

The group marched inside the magical borders, the other campers watching curiously. Jason was the first to approach them, Piper at his heels.

"Hey, man," he glanced at the group, then his eyes settled on Percy. "I heard about what happened. Is everyone okay?"

Annabeth nodded—even though the question was addressed to her boyfriend— still looking a little woozy. "We're fine, I think. Just a few bumps and bruises. But we need to see Chiron." Her voice screamed urgency.

Jason nodded, his eyes narrowing in concern. "Yeah, then you guys should probably get some rest."  
Percy walked by his friend, momentarily irritated by his mother-henning. He was getting in a bad mood.

He stomped up the stairs to the Big House, dragging Phil with him. Surprisingly, the man put up no resistance. Annabeth and his parents were right behind him, but Nico slumped into one of the patio chairs and motioned for a hesitating Sally to go on.

"I'm fine," he said. "Go inside."

Percy's vision swam as the door fell closed behind him, making Paul reopen it. He thought about apologizing, but decided he was too angry for that right now.

"Chiron," he said, shoving Coulson down onto one of the chairs, still keeping an eye on him.  
"Percy, what happened? Is everyone okay?" The centaur asked, echoing Jason's words.

Annabeth nodded again.

"SHIELD found us. We got away, though, and brought him along. Might be useful." Percy growled. He wouldn't normally be this rude to his mentor—or so careless with his prisoner—but his legs were shaking and there were black spots in his vision, and he figured since they were in the heart of Camp Half-Blood, Agent Coulson wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Chiron looked his student up and down, then shifted his eyes to the rest of the crowd. They all looked pretty banged up. "Why don't you all get some rest? I'll keep an eye on him and we can talk later," he said, motioning towards Phil.

Percy nodded, feeling the adrenaline drain from his body now that they were safe again. He laced his fingers with Annabeth's and left the house, vaguely noticing Nico was gone. He heard Chiron offer his parents rooms inside the Big House and the door to the basement creak open. Percy figured that was where Chiron would put Phil for now.

"You were amazing today, Percy," his girlfriend said, her voice sounding wobbly.

Percy smiled a little. "Not any more amazing than you, Wise Girl."

Their lips met briefly before the two demigods parted for some much needed sleep.

**PAGE BREAK**

Agent Coulson watched the strange horse-man leave the basement, shutting the door firmly behind him and sliding a key into the lock. He waited exactly four minutes and thirty-two seconds before moving.

He'd been prepared for something like this all along. Actually, he'd been hoping for it. This was just the lead SHIELD needed. He twisted his wrist to the left, allowing a small pocketknife to slip out of his sleeve and clatter on the cement floor. He groped around momentarily, trying to get his bound fingers around the handle. When he did, he quickly cut the cords of rope that bound his wrists together and slid the knife into his pocket. He hastily yanked the gag out of his mouth, glancing back up at the door to make sure the horse-man wasn't coming back.

He didn't exactly feel threatened in this place, around a bunch of half-animal people and teenagers, but you could never be too careful. He'd gathered plenty of information for now.

He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. Thankfully, Percy Jackson hadn't thought to frisk him. Then again, they hadn't exactly had time for that, either.

Nick Fury picked up immediately.

"Coulson? What happened?"

Phil got the feeling his director was about to let loose another spiel of questions, so he intervened.

"I'm in the camp, Sir—"

"What?"

"They brought me with them as a hostage. All you need to get in is permission from one of them."

"From who? Agent Coulson, are you sure you're all right?"

There was no real concern in Nick Fury's voice, but Phil knew his old friend really did care, even if he wouldn't show it.

"One of the demigods," Phil replied, using the term he'd recently discovered when he'd gotten through the magical borders.

"Demigods…?"

"That's what they call themselves. Just from that word, I'd assume we were right in thinking this has something to do with the gods. Most likely Greek or Roman, judging from the camp."

"So you need permission from one of the…demigods…to get in the camp?" Fury sounded disbelieving.  
Phil eyed the basement door, lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "You need one of them to invite you in. I couldn't even see this place until I was inside."

"Can you get out of there or do I need to send someone inside?"

"I'll be fine, Sir. There's no way you could get inside without a demigod anyway…" His voice trailed off, an idea coming to mind.

"Coulson, you know what you need to do."

Phil nodded, even though Fury obviously couldn't see him. "Yes, Sir. I think I'll stay here for a while longer and see if I can gather any more information."

"No, you need to get out of there tonight," Fury said.  
"Sir? I can find out so much more if…"

"The Avengers are waiting for a piece of the action, Phil," Fury's voice softened considerably. "You know they can't see you."

Coulson hated faking his own death, but he agreed quietly and hung up.

He replaced the gag in his mouth and worked on retying his hands. Yeah, when you're an agent of SHIELD, they teach you everything. He needed to stay trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey until he had to leave, just in case someone came back down.

Phil disliked the idea of kidnapping a teenager, but when they were armed and dangerous and the only way to figure out exactly what the hell was going on, he didn't mind as much.

**PAGE BREAK**

When Nico woke up, the sky was pitch black. He strode out of his cabin, tugging his old aviator jacket on as he walked. He'd slept enough for today, he thought. He guessed it was around three in the morning. The moon was out and shining in all its silver glory, which did nothing to help Nico's mood. The moon reminded him of his sister, that's why he hated it so much.

He'd long since recovered from Bianca's death, but a pang still hit his heart whenever he was reminded of her.

He shivered, tugging his jacket tighter around his shoulders. It was a chilly night. He wandered between the row of cabins, slowing making his way towards Thalia's Pine.

When he crested the hill, thoughts swirling through his head, he saw SHIELD's host of agents and soldiers below him. He sighed, watching people meander through the crowd, occasionally motioning towards camp. If he were younger, he would have sat down right behind the border and teased the agents, but not now. Not after everything.

He wasn't just a geeky little kid anymore. He was a demigod. A seasoned warrior. One who'd literally been through hell and back.

He was still a little tired from shadow-traveling, but not nearly as much as he had been. Thankfully, he didn't think Percy and Annabeth had caught on—at least, not that he knew of.

He trudged back down the hill, considering going back to his cabin and trying to get some more sleep, when it happened.

A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. He narrowed his eyes, racking his brain trying to figure out what was going on. That was the sensation he got when he felt death nearby. But what was dead around here? This was just Camp Half-Blood. Nothing evil here. The knot in his stomach seemed to lift, then settle even more heavily. What the Hades was going on?

The skin on the back of his neck crawled. Someone was watching him. Someone with not very nice intentions.

Nico spun around, his Stygian iron blade already unsheathed and threatening whoever was nearby. The son of Hades was on high alert, his death radar reading off the charts.

He caught a flash of movement, and, before he even knew what was happening, his sword was lying on the ground five feet away and his right arm was twisted painfully behind his back. He opened his mouth to scream—to alert the other campers of an intruder—when a hand muffled his shout.

Nico was not going to stand for this. He was not going to be kidnapped in his own camp. He thrashed and kicked, biting down hard on the person's hand.

The person holding him cursed, then a gag was shoved in his mouth and a blindfold over his eyes. By the time he remembered to shadow-travel out of there, his captor hit him over the head with something painfully hard and Nico fell unconscious.

**DUN DUN DUNNN! Just a quickie little note before you guys leave, I just want to say I read and appreciate all of your reviews. Please don't think that just because there are so many of you guys, you go unnoticed. Not true! I see every single review and all of them make my day and make me smile. THANK YOU! :D And by the way, if anyone was wondering when I'm going to update Strangers in a Stranger Land next, I will try to update soon. I've had severe writer's block on that story, so…yeah. I have not abandoned it!**

_**Arrow :D**_


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Agent Phil Coulson sat at the clean, metal table, watching the boy across from him. He'd shown signs of awakening a few minutes ago, and Coulson wanted to be there when he finally opened his eyes. He felt a little guilty for hitting a kid over the head with a crowbar, but he quickly pushed the thoughts aside. When you were right hand man to the director of SHIELD, you learned that sometimes certain measures had to be taken—whether you agreed with them or not.

Phil didn't consider himself the bad guy in this situation. He knew the boy he'd kidnapped would, but that was none of his concern. It was SHIELD's job to protect the world from the supernatural—no matter how young or old they were.

As soon as they discovered whether the demigods were a threat or not, this whole predicament would be dealt with accordingly. Phil got the feeling they weren't a danger to society, but it wasn't his job to tell Fury what to do.

As soon as he'd broken out of the basement he'd been kept in, he'd sneaked to the borders and grabbed the first demigod he came across. And that just so happened to be probably one of the creepiest ones in the camp.

The boy looked around fourteen or fifteen. He had raven hair that was shaggy and tangled. It fell down past his ears, like he hadn't wanted—or remembered—to get a haircut. His skin was pale as a ghost, and the boy was skin and bones. He looked like he hadn't eaten a decent meal in weeks. A tattered aviator jacket covered almost all of his black T-shirt. He wore a pair of jet-black jeans, and a wicked silver skull ring glittered on his finger.

Suddenly, a pair of dark eyes fluttered open and the boy moaned softly. He stifled the noise as soon as he realized he wasn't alone in his prison.

A murderous glare met Coulson's steady gaze.

"Have a nice nap?" Phil asked, ignoring the silence. "Sorry about the crowbar, I couldn't think of another way to keep you from struggling." He truly was apologetic—the kid probably had a massive headache now, judging by the patch of blood in his hair. When he said nothing in response, Coulson continued. "I just have a few questions for you, then I'll let you get some rest. I'm sure you're not feeling too well after our little skirmish last night."

There was a sudden light in the boy's eyes, like he registered that had been at least five hours since he'd been kidnapped. Coulson took a sip of coffee, and slid a plastic cup of water across the table for the kid. "Thirsty?" He asked. Phil knew he wanted it, you could tell.

His prisoner didn't even acknowledge it. Well, Coulson thought, so much for making the environment seem friendly. He left it there, just in case the boy changed his mind.

"Let's start with the basics. What is your full name?"

Silence. Deadly silence.

**NICO POV**

Nico ignored his dry throat, staring his captor in the eyes. He was really trying not to at least glance down at the pale blue cup filled with refreshing water. No, he would not cave in. Not yet. But he was so thirsty, and his head was pounding like no tomorrow…Aside from that, he had a really weird feeling in his stomach—like he'd had last night.

"What is your full name?"

Question number one. Nico paid it no attention. This man really believed that he could kidnap him in his own camp and bring him here against his will, and on top of that ask him questions he didn't even want to answer?

The son of Hades moved his wrists a little, and a faint clinking met his ears. He was chained up. Nico glared.

Coulson met his gaze, a polite interest and menacing light coercing in his eyes. Phil tsked his tongue and carefully slid the cup full of water back to his side of the table. "Guess you're not thirsty?"

Nico subconsciously licked his lips, then immediately cursed himself inwardly for it.

"So we are thirsty, then?" Phil raised his eyebrows. "Then maybe you'll answer my question."

The son of Hades hated how his captor referred to him as "we". Nico wanted to punch him, but he kept his cool.

No problem, he thought. I'll just shadow-travel out of this dump. He discreetly scanned his

surroundings, barely moving his eyes as he took it all in. The glass walls surrounding them were shiny and clear. He could tell he wasn't just outside the borders of Camp Half-Blood. More likely he was at SHIELD HQ.

Great.

"I'll ask you one more time. What is your full name?" Coulson repeated.

Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Bending the light in the room to his will, a sudden darkness flickered through. When Coulson glanced around, Nico grinned.

Then the agent seemed to reassure himself, and he turned back to his prisoner. There was still a passive look on his face. It annoyed Nico.

The son of Hades could practically feel the shadow rolling towards the room, about to cover him while he fled. The sick feeling in his stomach was stronger than ever now. Suddenly, the glass room they were in was encased in blackness. The lightbulbs all exploded and the room went dark.

Nico heard Phil's chair screech backwards as he stood, calling for backup on his comm. But it was too late, Nico knew. He was already dissolving

into the shadow world, ready to get back to his camp and away from Phil's obnoxious questions.  
Suddenly, as Nico felt himself re-materialize a searing, white-hot pain shot up his right arm. Wherever he was, it was completely black out. He tried to move his burning arm, but found it was completely immobilized. What the Hades had happened?

Then he heard Phil's voice, and he knew he was still exactly where he'd started. The lightbulbs began to flicker back on—though Nico had no idea how that had happened when they'd combusted.  
When light flooded the room again, he noticed Phil was still standing right next to his chair, watching him with a grim expression. The demigod looked down at his own arm and almost threw up. From the elbow up, it was on his side of the glass prison, but from the elbow down, it was completely outside his cell. A section of his arm was bleeding where the glass entered his skin. His arm was half in and half out of his dungeon.

Nico panicked. What the Hades? How did this happen? He turned his dark eyes back to Coulson, careful to mask his fear and pain.

Apparently, he didn't do a very good job of it, because Coulson approached him slowly.

"Calm down, okay? We'll get you out of there. Just…don't struggle, all right?" The agent seemed genuinely flabbergasted as to how this could have happened.

Nico broke his non-speaking streak. "What happened? What did you do to me?" His voice cracked a little. What if they had done something to him while he slept? What if they had stolen his demigod DNA? Actually, that wouldn't really be possible, seeing as how the gods didn't have DNA. But Nico still had another fear. What if they'd jacked up his ability to shadow-travel? That had been part of his identity for so long…how could they take that away from him?

"We didn't do anything to you, I promise. This is a cell made especially to combat demigod powers." Apparently, we underestimated just how powerful you were, Coulson thought to himself. "But if you tell me how you got out of your chains, then maybe I can we can get you out faster."

Nico narrowed his eyes. Really? After all this he was still trying to get answers out of him? That's it. Nico was absolutely ticked off. He shook with anger, and the room's lights flickered again. A solemn darkness stole over them, thought not nearly as black as it had been before. It was more like…nighttime. Skeletons clawed their way out of the ground around his cell, alarming the guards and medics that had just begun to flood into the room. Chunks of tile and earth exploded around them, knocking against the glass but still not cracking it. Nico dug deeper, trying to raise a few skeleton warriors in the cell. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Frustrated, the son of Hades tugged on his arm, which was a mistake. Glaring pain traveled through his body, making him lean against the wall. Blood was smeared on both sides of the glass. It looked pretty gruesome even for a son of the death god. His stomach was churning, his death radar was reading off the charts like it had last night—and it wasn't because of the skeletons fighting the soldiers outside. He was absolutely exhausted, his head felt like someone's personal drum, and his arm was killing him.

Nico had no idea how he was going to get out of here, but he needed to do it ASAP. Coulson hadn't left the cell, but only gotten closer. Probably to ensure that Nico didn't escape.

Thankfully, his skeleton army was prevailing. One of them figured out the controls for Nico's cell and popped the door open. Well, gee, that did a whole lot of good when his arm was trapped in the glass.

Four skeletons walked inside, moving towards Coulson. The agent pulled a small gun out of his pocket and fired at the dead. A weird green laser shot from the barrel and vaporized one of the skeletons. Well, crap.

He figured as long as he was losing the battle, he might as well try to shadow-travel out again. Hopefully he didn't end up dead. He concentrated, and his body was wrapped in shadow once again. But this time, he reappeared just outside the open door to his cell. Thank the gods.

Only one skeleton was left, and Coulson was currently killing it. Nico glanced at his arm, which was lacerated and bleeding heavily. He felt dizzy, but he needed to get out of here. He tried to shadow-travel again, but ended up only a foot away with a massive headache and blacking-out vision.

He'd have to run.

Nico stumbled away from his prison towards the open doors that led outside. He kept his good hand on the wall to steady himself whenever he could, but that wasn't very often. He made it outside into a vast expanse of white hallways and chose to go left. He ran as fast as he could, dodging soldiers and cringing away from doors that opened suddenly. Finally, though, he saw a window. Daylight streamed in through it, and thankfully there were no bars.

He staggered towards it, hoping maybe he was on ground level and he could jump out. No such luck. He was at least thirty stories up. The son of Hades felt dizzy looking down that far. He turned away from the view.

Soldiers and agent were flooding down the corridor, and for the first time, Nico realized there was an alarm blaring. He swallowed thickly and blacked out momentarily. He clung to the windowsill, fighting to stay upright. He had to escape. Recapture was not an option.

There were agents surrounding him now, aiming their guns at him and shouting for him to get on his knees. Nico looked back out the window. Maybe he could shadow-travel again? No, just the thought of it almost made him throw up.

Then Phil Coulson was there, a strange looking handgun pointed at Nico's chest and warning him to stand down.

The son of Hades was desperate. Where was he supposed to go? What else could he do? There was a limit to how much he could do. He was only fifteen years old, for Hades' sake. Why were these grown adults pointing guns at him? But Nico knew why. He was considered dangerous now.

His head hurt, his arm ached so badly his legs were trembling, he was exhausted to the point where anywhere looked like a good place to sleep, and he was cornered and completely outnumbered. The nausea had returned as soon as Phil had appeared.

Then, before Nico could think of any more escape plans, he collapsed.

**Sorry not sorry for that cliffie. I thought this would be a good spot for Nico to be kinda kickbutt and weak too. Gotta remember peeps, he's only a kid—no matter how many times he's been through Tartarus. And thanks to CHINCHILLA LOVE for the Nico-in-demigod-proof-cell idea, even though I tweaked it a bit :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

The kid was not in good shape. It was pretty obvious. When his eyes began to roll up in his head, Phil knew what was happening. The boy sagged against the wall and slipped to the floor, unconscious.  
Several agents sprang into action, approaching cautiously before cuffing his hands together.

"Take him back to his room," Coulson said. "And send a medic up, we can't have him dying."

One of the agents nodded.

Coulson switched on his comm. "Fitz, get up here. I need you to reinforce holing cell 428."

"Yes, sir."

~*~ 

Percy opened his eyes blearily before rolling off the bed. He landed on the floor with a thump and a groan. He stood and stumbled to the bathroom to shower.

As soon as he'd finished, he left for the dining pavilion for some breakfast. Early morning sunlight hit him as soon as he closed his cabin door, andhe shielded his eyes momentarily.

"Morning, Seaweed Brain."

Percy uncovered his eyes and smiled at Annabeth Chase. "Hey, Wise Girl. Sleep well?"

She nodded. "How about you?" She gave him a quick kiss and held his hand as they made their way towards breakfast.

"Like a rock."

"Have you seen Nico? He's usually the first one up," she said, glancing around.

Percy shook his head. "Last time I saw him was yesterday right before we talked to Chiron. After we left the Big House he was gone, so I just assumed he'd gone back to his cabin."

Annabeth shrugged. "He seemed pretty wiped out. He's probably just sleeping in."  
Percy nodded in agreement.

They ate breakfast and were about to part ways for some training when they heard a shout coming from the common area. Travis Stoll was running towards them, waving his arms dramatically and shouting something Percy couldn't quite make out.

"What happened? What is it? You didn't prank Clarisse again, did you?" Annabeth demanded.

Travis shook his head wildly. "There's blood on the grass, down by the border. A lot of it."

Percy glanced at his girlfriend. She was listening intently. Blood wasn't exactly abnormal for Camp Half-Blood, but down by the border? If someone was injured, what would they be doing there?

"Show me." Percy looked behind Travis, trying to see it from where they stood. Annabeth and the son of Poseidon raced after Travis, coming to a halt when they saw what he was talking about.

There was quite a bit, and it was obvious something had happened there. There was a deep imprint in the grass, too—body shaped. A few of the blades stuck up defiantly, as if someone had tried to cover his tracks.

"Nico," Annabeth and Percy said in unison, darting off toward his cabin. It had to have been Agent Coulson, Percy knew it. He shouted back to Travis, telling him to make sure their prisoner was still exactly where he should be—bound and gagged in the Big House basement.

Percy grasped the doorknob, but the door didn't budge. He wiggled it and realized that—despite certain protocols—Nico had put a lock on the door. The son of Poseidon kicked it down, knocking the hinges loose and sending them scattering across the floor. He stepped aside as the wood fell right where he had been. Percy and Annabeth barged into the Hades cabin, not caring if Nico was still there and getting ticked off at them for kicking his door down. The bed was empty, the sheets tousled.

"He might have just skipped breakfast. Remember how tired he was when we got to your apartment? He's been going somewhere." Annabeth sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than she was Percy.

The demigod shook his head. "Maybe, but I doubt it. Come on, we need to find out if Coulson is still here."

Taking off running again, they met Travis halfway to the Big House. He was shaking his head, a worried, desperate expression on his face. This was one of the only times Percy had seen one of the Stolls be so serious.

Suddenly, Chiron was on the porch, blowing a gigantic horn. Percy tried to figure out what kind of horn it was, but quickly gave up. Let's just say he wasn't musically inclined.

Campers flooded towards the Big House, some dressed halfway in armor and others with weapons being drawn. Percy, Annabeth, and Travis ran to join the amassing group, ready and waiting for Chiron's plan and subconsciously forming one of their own.

~*~ 

An hour later, the plans had been laid. Chiron had explained to the camp what was going on with the Avengers. This was no longer a little skirmish between Percy and SHIELD. The government had just unleashed the wrath of Camp Half-Blood on themselves.

And, by the looks of the other campers, they were ready to fight. After winning a war against the Giants and the earth herself, Percy knew they could win this. Besides that, Chiron was contacting Reyna and Frank this very second, asking for their help. Sure, Camps Jupiter and Half-Blood still had a rocky relationship, but the demigod had no qualms that the Romans would come to their aid.

Percy pulled Annabeth and the Stolls to the side, trying to get out of the crowd of demigods leaving after their hasty assembly.

"You guys understand what we're doing, right?"

Annabeth nodded and the twins grinned, which Percy took as a yes.

"Good. We'll meet at Thalia's Pine at midnight. Clarisse will give us some time to get out, but we'll have to hurry."

**A lot of people were asking if people would be able to touch Nico, because in Blood of Olympus he exhausted himself too much and started turning into shadow. So the answer is, yeah, people can still touch him. It hasn't gotten to that extent…yet. ;) Several people also were skeptical about the fact that SHIELD had somehow created a half-demigod proof cell. Honestly, I just kinda figured SHIELD would be smart like that. Plus, I'm not an invincible author—I do leave plot holes sometimes. Oops :P But, I got some inspiration that might patch that up a bit ;) By the way guys, I REALLY appreciate it when you bounce ideas off me and give me suggestions and point out plot holes. That is EXTREMELY helpful! :D It helps give me inspiration and try to cover up any loopholes :) Okay….just one more thing I think, then I'll let you guys go :) If you have any questions about the story or would just like to chat, please PM me! :D It's kinda hard to reply when you ask questions in reviews, but I'll try my best if you don't have an account or something. PMing would probably just be easier, though. Thank you all! 3**

_**Arrow :D**_


	12. Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever. Btw, I don't own Ford either, I'm just using the name. All rights to…whoever…:D

Nico opened his eyes groggily, the world around him fuzzy and indistinct. He was lying flat on his back on a thin mattress. His arm was swathed in thick bandages, but blood still seeped through. He closed his eyes, the memories coming back to him. Yes, now he remembered.

He sat up and immediately regretted that decision. He blacked out for a split second and his ears started to ring. His head felt like it was falling off. He curled up on his side, wondering if someone was coming for him.

He wanted nothing else than to have someone here with him. Yeah, Nico di Angelo wished for another living human being to comfort him. Anyone would be great, especially Hazel. He pushed Bianca out of his head, ignoring the numb pain that resurfaced. His arm was strangely tingly, like a painkiller was wearing off. How long had he been asleep? He tried opening his eyes again and found that, though he was still sensitive to the light, it wasn't that bad as long as he didn't try to sit upright. He could only imagine what standing would do to him.

Had his cell had been reinforced while he slept? No doubt it had been. From Nico's position, his prison looked just as it had before, minus the blood. He figured they changed the code on the door lock, too.

They probably have this place infested with hidden cameras, the son of Hades thought, and as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he snapped his eyes closed. If there were cameras, he didn't want them to see he was awake and start interrogating him. Now they knew what his powers were—though they could never comprehend their full extent. Melting into the shadows, exploding the lights, and raising the dead to bust him out of jail? That was a seriously toned-down Nico di Angelo.

Unfortunately, he hadn't feigned sleep quickly enough. A door slid open in the room surrounding his cage, and three people walked in. The first one was—surprise—Agent Coulson. The other two were agents Nico had never seen before. They looked like scientists, judging by their white lab coats and nerdy glasses. One was a young lady with tawny hair pulled back in a ponytail, the other a young man with short, curly hair.

When they entered his prison, Nico ignored the nausea and sat up. No use faking any longer, and he certainly wasn't going to be completely unprepared for whatever they might throw at him.  
"You're awake," Coulson said, stopping in front of the demigod.

Nico snorted derisively.

He pulled up two chairs Nico hadn't noticed before and gestured for the young woman to sit in one, seating himself in the other. The other man pulled up another chair. The son of Hades couldn't quite comprehend why this agent showed respect for a woman—it didn't seem like something SHIELD would do. He mentally shrugged it off.

"I hope you've had a nice nap. As you can see, the SHIELD facility is four times as powerful as any demigod could ever be," Phil's smile was kind and menacing at the same time. "Trying to escape again will result in…well, let's just say it won't end well for you. Am I understood?"

Nico could tell this man wasn't going to take any more flack. He wholeheartedly believed that any threat Phil Coulson made, he would carry out without hesitation. Nico nodded slightly, but his spirit was far from broken.

~*~

Travis Stoll walked casually down the dark street with Annabeth Chase, whistling annoyingly.

"Can you shut up? We're trying not to attract attention," the girl hissed.

"What do you mean? Whistling won't attract attention. Everyone does it," he replied innocently.  
"Well, shut up anyway. You're driving me crazy."

Travis shrugged. When Annabeth was in a bad mood, he didn't want to be the one to irritate her even further. He'd be pushing up daisies before you could say Elysium.

"We're here," Annabeth stated after a few minutes. SHIELD HQ loomed overhead, just a few buildings down. It seemed to touch the night sky above them, and Annabeth had to stop for a minute and gape at the architecture. She never would have guessed it, but the top secret government organization had their own headquarters right in the heart of Manhattan. Of course, it didn't say "SHIELD Headquarters right here!" with a big arrow on it; it was cleverly disguised.

"Ford Automotive Headquarters," she read aloud.

"I stole one of those once," Travis said.

"Let's go." 

Half an hour later, they'd found the back door. They had spotted a side alley that appeared to go around the back of the building and followed it. The two had narrowly missed getting attacked by a rabid cat, kidnapped by a sleezy old man, and slipping in who-knew-what.

The pair climbed a chain-link fence before finally making it to the corner, where the alley branched off to the left and right. Annabeth peered around the corner of the alleyway to the left, her gaze landing on a metal door with two buff guards on either side of it. Great.

Annabeth grabbed Travis' wrist, forcing him to listen as she told him her plan.

Then she started walking and whistling quietly.

"How come you get to whistle, but I—"

She clamped a hand over Travis' mouth briefly and rounded the corner. At the noise, the two men whirled around.

"Hey! What are you doing back here? This is for authorized members only," The guy on the left growled.  
Annabeth feigned a look of innocence. "Oh, really? Sorry, I guess I just got a little mixed up. There weren't any signs on the fence…."

"Isn't that enough, stupid girl? What did you do, climb it?"

Annabeth opened her mouth, pretending to be at a loss for words. "Well…yeah."

Suddenly, both of the guards' pants fell down, and Annabeth cringed away from the sight. It took them a split second to realize what had happened and grab their clothes, shouting in protest. They tried to pull them back up, but their belts were gone. Annabeth concealed a grin as the two man suddenly fell over backward, groaning as their heads hit the concrete. She lunged forward, slamming her elbow into the first man's nose as Travis ran past her toward the door. The second guard started to rise, but the daughter of Athena stuck her foot out, sending him crashing back to the ground. His eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp.

The door beeped and hissed open. "Done," Travis said proudly.

"Good job, Travis. Come on, they'll be awake soon."

Then the two demigods disappeared inside SHIELD headquarters.

~*~

Blackjack whinnied in protest as Connor Stoll fell precariously to one side, having to grab the pegasus's flank to keep from falling 300 feet to the sidewalk.

"Connor!" Percy shouted in alarm, grabbing his friend's arm and pulling him back up behind him. "Be more careful! You're going to get yourself killed."

Connor shrugged, his face pale from fear, but a mischievous grin on his face. "Sorry," he said. "But you gotta admit, that was pretty cool."

Percy redirected his attention back to the ground, where he saw Clarisse leading a phalanx of half-bloods against SHIELD's army of agents. They were withdrawing back inside the camp's magical borders, and no one seemed to be hurt or dead. That was a relief to Percy.

The Athena cabin had devised the plan. Clarisse would lead the Ares and Apollo cabins in a frontal assault, while the Hermes and Hecate cabin—besides Travis and Connor—sneaked up from behind and struck them. It had worked; it bought Percy, Annabeth, and the Stolls enough time to get out of Camp Half-Blood so they could rescue Nico.

"Hopefully SHIELD is nice and distracted. Wouldn't want them to suddenly see a flying pegasus land on their roof," Percy said. The son of Poseidon sensed Connor was nodding, but he wasn't about to turn around and see for himself. They were nearing SHIELD HQ. The building was massive—almost as wide as it was tall. It could easily land ten airplanes on the roof. Percy was surprised no one had noticed that this obviously wasn't Ford Automotive Headquarters.

They landed on top of the roof behind a stack of empty garbage bins. Blackjack's wing accidentally hit one and the metal rattled loudly. Percy and Connor froze. Thankfully, no one made an appearance. The two demigods exhaled in unison and dismounted, Percy thanking Blackjack for the ride and promising him extra donuts later.

With that, the half-bloods sneaked into the facility.

~*~

"What is your full name?" Phil Coulson asked. There was no kindness in his voice anymore.

"Why don't you tell me who they are—"Nico jerked his head at the pair of scientists—"Then I'll consider answering your questions."

Agent Coulson tipped his head to the side, as if considering his request. "All right. Agent Fitz, Agent Simmons," he motioned towards the man and woman respectively. "This is…" he raised his eyebrows at Nico.

Nico decided to play along. "Nico."

Coulson nodded, and Fitz and Simmons started to jot something down on their papers.

"Nico….what?" Phil asked, his eyes on Nico's.

"Di Angelo. Nico di Angelo."

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere," Phil stated, giving Nico a brief smile. The son of Hades didn't return the gesture. "Any living relatives?"

Nico winced inwardly. "No." Never would he give them Hazel's name.

"I'm sorry for your loss. May I ask how they died?" Though the words sounded friendly enough, Coulson wasn't asking for information. He was demanding it. Nico could see it in his eyes.

The demigod thought about how he would answer that. "No, you may not," he said, his voice full of venom.

"Now, Mr. di Angelo, let's not get snappy. Remember, you're at our mercy. Not the other way around."  
Agent Simmons glanced up at him, and Nico thought he caught a tiny glint of sympathy in her eyes. He wondered if she felt bad for him just because he was only fifteen.

"If you want any more answers, then you better keep you big nose out of my business," Nico snarled. His arm was starting to throb again.

Phil smiled humorlessly.

Nico bit back an insult.

"How about this: I ask you questions, and you answer them…" His voice trailed off when he realized the whole room was growing dark, waves of anger and shadow rolling off their captured half-blood. He practically radiated danger.

Nico couldn't tell if the agent was smiling or grimacing, but he assumed neither was very good.

"Don't worry, Mr. di Angelo—can I call you Nico? —we've proofed this cell against any powers you could possibly possess." His voice turned ten times more firm. "So, let's drop the whole "skeleton game" and get to business, shall we?"

Nico glared.

Phil locked his gaze with Nico's.

Then a new voice piped in.

"Hello Gentlemen."

**Well, the last chapter was just a lame filler. This one kinda turned out the same way :| Well I hope you guys enjoyed reading these two rather…boring…chapters. Pinky promise the next one will be better :D And really sorry it took so long. I thought I'd posted this chapter, but apparently I hadn't super sorry.**

_**Arrow :D**_


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Connor grabbed Percy's arm and yanked him into an alcove where the lightbulb had gone out. Neither of them breathed as a squad of soldiers jogged past them. Percy exhaled, peeking around the corner.  
"Thanks, Connor. That was a close one."

The alarm was blaring loudly, and faint red lights blinked farther down the corridor. Percy knew something was up. He and Connor certainly hadn't set it off. He hoped Annabeth and Travis were okay.  
"You should be more careful," the son of Hermes replied, moving back down the hallway. Percy could tell the other boy was trying not to let the siren make him nervous.

Percy knew that if it hadn't been for Connor, he'd have been caught at least three times by now, and they'd only been inside the facility for ten minutes. Thankfully, Connor's hacking and thieving skills had paid off. They'd gotten inside without setting off any alarms. The kid was seriously sneaky.

They stayed close to the walls, Connor going first to keep a sharp eye out for good hiding places and the like, just in case they were suddenly caught. Percy guarded their rear, his hand nervously fidgeting with his pen—even though he was very well aware of the fact it couldn't harm mortals.

They reached an intersection, and Percy caught sight of a sign on the wall. He nudged Connor's elbow. "Look," he whispered.

Connor glanced up at it.

Holding cells 100-240. An arrow pointed left. 241-430 ; another arrow pointed right. Break room; a final arrow pointing straight ahead, further down the hall.

Connor started forward, moving towards the break room, but Percy grabbed his elbow.

"Connor," he hissed.

The son of Hermes was grinning. "Just teasing, Percy." He paused, looking down the hall in both directions. "We should split up. You go one way, I'll go the other."

Percy hesitated. "I don't know…it might be best if we stay together. What if something happens?"

Connor seemed to think for a minute, then shrugged. "Think about it. You've got your sword—how are they supposed to know it can't hurt them?—and we're both pretty good at hand-to-hand combat. I've got the advantage, what with all my practice getting away from the Aphrodite cabin."

Percy rolled his eyes, remembering the prank the Stolls had pulled on the Aphrodite cabin just before they'd left. Let's just say they weren't exactly happy campers when they woke up with green hair.

"Fine."

"Which way do you want, left or right?" Connor asked, evaluating both sides.

"I'll take right. You go left." Percy vaguely realized that it was quiet again. He hoped it had just been a false alarm.

"Got it," Connor Stoll said before creeping off towards holding cells 100-240.

Percy wasn't sure where cells 1-99 were. Maybe they started at 100 and counted up? It seemed unlikely that they would have at least 330 jails here. Percy shrugged. Maybe they had a lot of enemies. He could believe that.

He just hoped Nico was in one of those 330.

An hour later, Percy was really starting to get frustrated. He was currently peeking inside cell 420. Nobody. That seemed to be the thing here, having almost five hundred prisons and only ten with actual enemies in them. Cell 425 held a scrawny little guy with balding hair. Percy backed away when he received a nasty snarl from the man and foam started to drip from his mouth.

The son of Poseidon shuddered, moving to look in the next prison. Cell 428. A set of metal double doors with a huge padlock and coded sound lock protected it from intruders.

Nico has to be in here, he thought.

He glanced over his shoulder and set his hand over the padlock, concentrating hard. He felt that familiar tug in his gut and opened his sea green eyes to watch as spindles of water trailed across the walls and ceiling, racing down his fingertips and splashing silently against the lock. Another stream of liquid crept over to the sound lock, sending it into a frenzy of sizzling and sparking. Percy stepped back as the padlock snapped open and something in the doors clicked. Percy hoped that, since there was a lock on the door, no one would be inside except for Nico. Unfortunately, he figured SHIELD had some way to get out from the inside despite the padlock.

Making sure Riptide was still in his pocket, he shoved the heavy double doors open.

Annabeth Chase ran down the hallway, sirens blaring. She had no idea where Travis was, but she prayed to Athena that he was okay. She would never forgive herself if he didn't make it out of here.

Her blond ponytail whipped her face as she spun around. A row of guards was shouting at her, demanding she stop and surrender. She took off down the shiny metal corridor again, her breaths heavy, tennis shoes tapping against the floor. She caught sight of an open door and lunged through it into the darkness beyond.

It looked like a conference room, with a long mahogany table down the middle and cushioned chairs placed along it. Large windows spanned the length of the far wall, making her awestruck at the cityscape below her. She snapped out of it in a millisecond and dived under the table. The agents ran past the door, and one of them peeked in. He shined his flashlight inside, then jogged on.

Annabeth stayed put for a 10 count, then stood and peered out the door. The hall was empty. She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the doorframe, still keeping a careful eye out for soldiers. She felt bad for leaving Travis, even though, technically, they'd been separated due to no fault of her own.

Their mission: to get to SHIELD's control room and kill whatever locks they had on the prison doors. Knowing full well that that would set loose all kinds of nasty criminals—some of them no more a criminal than Nico—Annabeth, Travis, Percy, and Connor had brought something to protect them.

Annabeth reached in the pocket of her jeans and pulled out the thin glass vial. Grey-white mist swirled inside it, and Annabeth could almost hear it screaming to get free. It was legitimate Mist, the stuff in the bottle. The daughter of Athena had no idea how Hazel had obtained it, but she knew it wouldn't stay captured in the glass for long. They needed to hurry. The Mist would only hide them from supernatural beings, since they figured most of SHIELD's enemies weren't human. Annabeth only wished it would hide them from everyone's eyes.

She diverted her train of thought back to her mission. Once they freed Nico, hopefully Percy and Connor would have reached him in time to get him back to the roof and the hell out of this place. They'd figured he probably wouldn't be in good shape to shadow-travel. Then Annabeth and Connor would get to the east wing's third floor fire escape exit, where two pegasi would be waiting to get them out of there.

If things had gone to plan, they would have been able to escape SHIELD headquarters with Nico and never come back. Maybe then the government organization would have realized how dangerous demigods were and back off. Of course, things didn't go to plan and Connor had accidentally set off an alarm. Now soldiers had the place covered like a knee-high sock.

This was supposed to be a stealth mission, Annabeth thought to herself as she left the safety of the dark room.

"Hello Gentlemen." Percy Jackson strode inside the room with metal walls, a control panel stationed before a catwalk that led to a circular prison cell. The walls were made of glass. "Oh, sorry," the demigod said when he spotted the young lady scientist. "Ladies and Gentlemen."

"How did you get in here?" Agent Fitz demanded, rising quickly.

"Oh, you know. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. But I mainly just did this." Without further warning, Percy thrust out his hand, swirling a hurricane around him. None of the people in the cell had noticed the pool of water that had followed Percy through the doors. Honestly, the son of Poseidon had just made a lucky guess when he tried to raise that hurricane. It would've been pretty awkward if it hadn't worked.

He charged toward the cell door, sending the lock into a fizzling frenzy when it came in contact with the water. Percy yanked the door open, Riptide in his hand.

"Now, I suggest unless you're feeling dehydrated today, you step away from him and get on the ground." Percy did not like Nico's condition. He looked absolutely exhausted, his arm was swathed in creamy white bandages splotched with crimson, and he was shaking. From cold or anger, he couldn't tell.  
The son of Poseidon spotted Agent Coulson reaching slowly toward the pin on his suit, obviously trying to call for help. He blasted him with a wall of water and the agent slammed into the glass wall before falling unconscious on the floor.

"Next?"

The scientists looked thoroughly scared and intrigued at the same time. He didn't miss the fact that one of them was scribbling furiously on his paper.

"Drop it," Percy snarled. No one was going to take notes on him like a freaking experiment. When the young man didn't comply, Percy pinned them to the wall with a surge of water and let it splash around them as their eyes fluttered closed. Thankfully, that was all the demigod was able to pull to the surface, so it was good all three agents were out cold. He dropped the remains of his mini hurricane and stepped towards Nico, offering him his hand. When Nico ignored it and stood, nodding his thanks, Percy remembered why he looked so worn out.

"You okay?"

The son of Hades nodded. "We need to get out of here. Did anyone else come with you?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah, the Stolls and Annabeth. I can send Connor an Iris-message real quick. Annabeth and Travis will meet us out there when they've finished their job. Be careful when we leave, because they shut down the locks on every cell out there. All kinds of guards and nasties will be wandering around."

Nico nodded and started toward the door.

"Wait, Nico," Percy said, grabbing his good arm to stop him. Nico shook himself free abruptly. "I need to know." He glanced past Nico toward the agents, who still appeared to be immobilized. "Where have you been going? You can't hide it, Nico. It's obvious you've been shadow-traveling somewhere recently. A lot."

Nico bit his lip. "SHIELD is planning something, Percy. I've suspected it for a while now. They've got some kind of weapon, this thing they call a—"

"Duck!" The son of Hades fell to the floor, not questioning Percy's urgent order. Unfortunately, the son of Poseidon was a split second too slow, and Agent Coulson's bullet grazed the demigod's left side. He hissed in pain and fell to one knee, quickly rolling out of the way as another shot was fired. Then Nico was on top of him and Coulson was knocked out again by the butt of his own gun.

"Thanks, man," Percy said, standing and clutching his side with his left hand, Riptide still in his right. Blood seeped through his fingers, but the demigod ignored it. He capped his sword and tossed Nico a vial of Mist. "Here, take this. It'll hide us from any non-human guys out there. I mean, since SHIELD seems like the kind of people who capture aliens a lot."

"Good idea," Nico said. "You okay?"

Percy laughed abruptly, remembering how he had spoken those same words just minutes ago. Ignoring the shooting pain in his side and the dizziness quickly assaulting him, he replied, "Yeah, let's go."

**Okay, here you go. I thought I'd give you two chapters this time :D**

**Arrow :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"Perseus Jackson! What the Hades happened to you?"

"What…? Oh, that," the son of Poseidon had forgotten his hand was still pressed to his side, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Apparently, Annabeth hadn't missed it. He really hoped she didn't go storming back in there to kill Agent Coulson. They needed to make themselves scarce.

"Yeah, that," she said. "Come on, we need to get you back to camp. Where's Connor?" Worry tinged her voice.

"He's coming," Percy replied as he mounted Blackjack. Nico tried to get on his own pegasus but quickly stumbled backward. His injured arm was cradled against his chest, so Annabeth stepped in to help—much to Nico's chagrine. Annabeth got on Blackjack behind Percy, glancing over at Travis, who was on his own pegasi. Annabeth and Travis had run into each other shortly after she'd shut down the locks. Then, thankfully, they'd made it out of there alive. She shuddered, remembering the gunfire and the screams as the soldiers fought to keep their prisoners inside the building. The Mist had worked and Nico was alive, and that's all she could have asked for.

Connor burst out the door, leaping onto the pegasus behind his brother. "Go go go!" He screamed just as the door was thrown open again and soldiers flooded out, opening fire on the demigods.

"Go, Blackjack! Get us out of here!" Percy yelled, mentally still berating himself for not going in after Connor Stoll. Nico had been the only one to talk some sense into him and get him out of there. Two demigods trapped in that hell house wouldn't do any good, especially if they spent the whole night looking for each other.

Crouching low against Blackjack's neck, Percy Jackson fled into the night with his friends, trying to escape the cracking of the guns.

~*~

Agent Phil Coulson woke with a start, his head pounding. What the…? He glanced around the cell's interior, catching sight of Fitz and Simmons—both of whom were unconscious—and the wide open door. He swallowed thickly, mentally cursing himself for letting them get away. They couldn't be allowed to escape. Nico di Angelo was their only bargaining chip. And now, a teenage boy just walked in and left with their prisoner. Not just any teenage boy, though. Percy Jackson. Coulson had made an effort not to hate the kid, but he was making it really difficult.

He climbed to his feet, noticing that they had made off with his gun, too. He checked Fitz and Simmons for a pulse before jogging to the prison door, he stopped halfway, however, when he noticed something.  
A small puddle of blood was right at his feet, and a thin trail of the stuff led all the way out the door. He didn't know whether he should grimace or be relieved that his bullet had found its mark. It hadn't killed the boy—whichever one he'd hit—but it had at least slowed them down. Hopefully.

When he opened the set of double doors and emerged into the hallway, Coulson stopped dead in his tracks. Destruction filled the hallway. The metallic scent of blood hung in the air. Phil had to force himself not to gag when he saw what had happened. Sure, he was a seasoned agent of SHIELD. He was a warrior. He'd seen more than his fair share of carnage. But this…this was different. The bodies of tens of agents and soldiers lay mangled and bloodied, limbs splayed out in disarray. He—never in a million years—would have thought those children could do this. And that's when he saw that row after row of prison cells had been opened and emptied.

Cursing, he checked his comm and was greeted with static. Worry filled him as he ran through the eerily quiet hallways and past the deathly silent bodies. When he reached the control room, one lone soldier stood at the head of the room, her eyes wide with fear. Her rifle was aimed directly at him.

"Woah! Don't shoot! It's Agent Coulson." The man showed the frightened woman his badge, and she lowered the gun. "What happened here?" He asked, surveying the damaged room.

She slumped against the wall. "Are they gone? We have to find them. No, no, we don't. We can't. They'll kill more. They'll just kill everything."

"Who? Agent, what happened? Who's going to kill everything?"

"The prisoners, sir." She seemed to regain a little more of her sanity. "The girl, she released the prisoners. They're loose in New York."

Coulson cursed the demigods when he realized that their rescue mission hadn't consisted of just one boy. "All right, Percy Jackson. You've had your fun. Now you're going to pay for this."

~*~

Percy gripped Annabeth's hand tightly, knowing the firefight wasn't over yet. They still had to get back inside Camp, and right now it was completely surrounded by SHIELD. But, for now, they were safe. The night cityscape was quiet and heavy with mist. Rain was coming.

It would have been romantic, Percy thought. Just him and Annabeth taking a ride on a flying pegasus through Manhattan at night. Unfortunately, they were flying toward inevitable doom for them and their camp—unless they figured out a way to outwit fate once again. It seemed like those old ladies had it out for Percy Jackson. It kind of sucked.

Percy tried to concentrate on a game plan, but it was getting difficult. His side was still bleeding, blood crusted under his fingernails. Maybe that bullet had done a little more than graze him. Thankfully, Annabeth and the others hadn't noticed. He wasn't an idiot, of course he would get help once they made it back to camp. Emphasis on once they made it back to camp. The other demigods didn't need anything else to worry about right now.

He glanced ahead at Nico, who was looking solemn and morose, as usual. Percy wondered what they'd done to him in that SHIELD facility, what had happened to his arm. Percy suspected the son of Hades had tried to escape, and they hadn't been too kind to him.

Suddenly, the pain in his side flared, and he blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyesight. Black clouds were forming in front of his eyes, blocking out Blackjack's ears and the other two pegasi in front of them. Then, before he could warn his girlfriend or even shoot a thought to his pegasus, Percy blacked out and tumbled into the sky.

**Okay, so someone asked me about Solangelo for this story, and here's the answer. There won't be Solangelo in this story, because (I'm an extremely biased author and I don't really ship them don't hurt me please) it just won't really come up. Nico and Will might be in the same area or whatever, but I don't know if an opportunity for them to…idk flufferize? (haha I made a knew word!) Only pairings in this story will be canon, but I might throw in some hints of Jeyna's past whenever Camp Jupiter gets there. So…yeah. (And no, that wasn't a typo. I mean Jason/Reyna) [but there's not a pairing in this story btw] And HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY! :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"Percy!" As soon as Annabeth felt her boyfriend start to lean precariously to the left, she wrapped one arm tighter around his waist and grabbed a fistful of Blackjack's mane.

The son of Poseidon's eyes fluttered closed, and suddenly keeping him upright was a hell of a lot harder. She struggled to keep him on the pegasus, but he was too heavy. He slipped from her grasp, and she almost fell off herself trying to grab him.

"Percy!" She screamed, urging Blackjack into a shooting dive towards the pavement far, far below. She heard shouts above her and knew the others had caught on to what was happening.

Please, mother, Annabeth prayed. Help me out here.

~*~

"I'm not so sure I like this whole idea. I mean, they're just kids."

"Listen, Rogers. These demigods are armed and dangerous—no matter how young they are," Fury replied.

The helicarrier was quiet, for the most part. Usually, with the Avengers on board, things tended to be a little more exciting. More…hopeful. But not this time. It was nighttime, just a few minutes after Agent Coulson had been transported up. The six Avengers along with Nick Fury and Maria Hill sat around the conference table.

"He's right, Steve. They're not giving us a whole lot of options," Agent Hill said. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea either. But, if it meant protecting the planet, she was up for the challenge.  
"I'm not entirely sure we should get involved." That was Thor.

When all eyes were turned to him, he continued, that ever-present innocent face staring back at them.

"They have never harmed us, nor have they asked to be threatened. They seem like a relatively peaceful people."

"Thor, they're not aliens," Natasha said. "They're teenage kids with weird powers. It's our duty to put a stop to them before they do hurt someone."

"But war? Must that be the only way to solve this?" He asked, concern in his voice. "And if they are children of the gods—as we suspected—"

"Are we even sure we could win?" Bruce finished. "You've seen they're powers. Even the Avengers can't face that."

Nick Fury remained patient through the team's doubting. "Actually, we can be sure." He nodded to Agent Hill, who left the room momentarily.

Clint and Natasha exchanged a glance.

When Maria Hill returned, she was carrying a rectangle briefcase around a foot long and a foot and a half wide. She set it on the table and slid it across to the director.

"With the intel we've gathered," Fury said. "SHIELD has created a weapon to combat the demigods."  
Steve shook his head.

He opened the briefcase to reveal what looked like a basic handgun. He lifted it gingerly and held it out for everyone to see.

"This…is what we like to call the Politician."

Uncharacteristically silent up until this point, Tony snorted.

Fury ignored it, and Steve looked slightly confused.

"The bullets disable any kind of supernatural powers once they've hit their target. It's just temporary since we don't have enough information on the demigods, but we've made up for that. He pulled a bullet out of the clip and held it up. Half of it was filled with a bluish liquid. The other half was filled with red. "The blue serum will block the receptors that enable them to use their powers, but it will only last about four hours. The red paralyzes the area it makes contact with. Again, only temporary paralysis. Even our top scientists couldn't get either to be permanent."

The room was quiet.

Then Bruce spoke up as if a thought had just struck him. "What about the escaped prisoners?"  
Agent Hill stepped in. "All taken care of. Some of our top agents are cleaning up the mess."  
"Oh, I must've missed that memo," Tony commented.

"Actually," Bruce leaned over. "I'm pretty sure you didn't get one," he said with false sympathy.  
Tony looked shocked and Banner clapped him on the shoulder.

"Any more questions?" Fury asked, successfully directing the attention in the room back to him.  
"How many of these do we have?" Clint put in.

"There are exactly ten, including this one. I decided making more would be unwise. Hopefully, we'll be able to resolve the situation and never need these again."

"But…" Natasha prodded.

"But, we've got a few stashed away, just in case."

Hawkeye was nodding slowly, seeming to come to terms with the situation. As a father, he knew it would be hard to fight against kids, but this was his job. On top of that, he agreed with Nick Fury. This needed to stop.

The room was silent, the only person looking completely not okay with this being Steve. Everyone else seemed to accept it as their duty, albeit a few begrudgingly.

"Let me talk to them." Steve's voice was quiet, thoughtful.

Natasha heaved a quiet sigh and turned, ready to say something. But Tony cut her off.

"We've tried that, Cap. What good did it do us? Now we've got at least twenty agents dead, three still missing, and no progress made whatsoever. If you try to talk to them again, he'll kill more."  
Steve shook his head. "I don't believe any one of them are capable of that."

"Well then obviously—"

"They're innocents, Stark. And I'm not going to fight some seventeen year old kid because he defended himself." Steve slid his chair back and stood, now looking at Fury and Hill. "Give me an hour. Let me at least try before we go in and kill them all."

There was a moment of thick tension and a silence so loud it hurt. Finally, though, Steve got his reply.

"Fine. But you get one hour, then we've moving out!" Fury warned.

Steve nodded before leaving to get his motorcycle.

**Welp, Percy's fate is still up in the air, I guess. XD (Sorry not sorry for that pun) Okay, so just to clarify some things: Yes, there will be a big war between the camps and SHIELD; No, it was the escaped prisoners who killed all the agents in HQ, not the demigods; Yes, the gods might (most likely) get involved; and no I am not sorry for giving you guys so many cliffies XD Just kidding. You guys are great. Love you! :D**

_**Arrow :D**_

**DELTED SCENE (It really just didn't make sense so I cut it out. I thought I'd let you guys read it anyway though :)**

Agent Phil Coulson was running down the hall, heading up to the roof to the awaiting chopper that would take him to the helicarrier far above the city. So far, in fact, that the naked eye couldn't even see it.  
That's when it happened. Phil stopped dead in his tracks before the window he'd just passed, trying to decipher what he'd just seen.  
Percy Jackson, freefalling through the sky on a one-way trip to the asphalt.  
When a spatter of blood hit the outside of the window, Coulson slammed his palm against the security lock and threw the window open. He leaned out, trying to spot the boy. Was it just a bird? Maybe. But what about the blood? No, it had to be Jackson. Then, a black and blond blur whizzed after the boy, and Coulson knew he wasn't imagining things. A lone black feather floated on the receding wind, and Phil reached out to catch it.  
He closed the window behind him and studied the feather. That was no bird. Birds don't have feathers that huge, or that…Coulson was at a loss for words. But something wasn't right. He tucked the inky black feather in his pocket and resumed his dash to the roof. Fury needed to hear about this.


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Blood. Blood was everywhere. There was enough of it to make even the strongest of stomachs flip-flop. Demigod bodies littered the ground. The few still alive were stumbling around looking dazed. All of the cabins were leveled with the exception of the Hades cabin, which had Nico standing guard in front of the door. Or, more likely, Hazel's body sprawled on the ground behind him. Nico looked awful. A rush of blood was escaping somewhere underneath his aviator jacket, which was ripped beyond repair. More of the dark liquid dripped onto his cheek from a cut just above his eyebrow, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and—worst of all—there were tears in the corners of his dark eyes. He seemed frustrated, desperately trying to summon a legion of the undead to help him, but nothing was happening. There was no longer an intimidating aura around the son of Hades: no shadow, no chill…nothing. And that's what scared him most of all.

Guns were cracking near Half-Blood Hill, and he turned to look. His breath caught in his throat when he saw what was happening. Kneeling in the dirt, all in a neat row, were five demigods. Reyna, Frank, Annabeth, Jason, and Clarisse. Tears were shining in Annabeth's eyes, and that's when he saw Chiron's body lying right in front of her. Smoke was clearing from the gunshot that had just murdered the centaur, and he could finally see who was behind this—even though he already knew.

Agent Phil Coulson. That was his name. He was standing beside a dark skinned man in a long black trench coat. One eye was covered with an eyepatch. He watched in horror, his feet suddenly glued to the grass, as Captain America and the woman he'd kicked in the knee stepped forward. What was her name? Black Widow. Yeah, that was it. She raised her gun, aiming it at the row of demigods.

Then she shot them.

Percy Jackson was awake in a split second, his eyes shooting open and his heart beating insanely fast. He didn't even remember to scream as he fell through the night sky, the dream he'd just had replaying over and over again in his mind. Hopelessness washed over him like a tidal wave, bathing him in a deep depression. What could one demigod do against such an army? He'd seen it with his own eyes: his friends murdered or seriously maimed, his camp in flames… His sea green eyes drifted shut again, thinking maybe he could just die like this. Then he would have to see his friends die, right?

Then, just like that, it was gone. It didn't matter what he couldn't do. The only thing that mattered was what he could do. His eyes flashed open again and suddenly there was a rush of feathers beside him. A hand lashed out and gripped his wrist tightly, slowly his rapid descent. His shoulder screamed in pain, still sore from when he'd been hit with Steve Rogers' shield. But that was just what he needed to pull himself together again. He looked up and saw Annabeth Chase, desperately trying to keep her hold on his dead weight and still hang on to Blackjack.

"Percy! Wake up!" She screamed. She yelped in surprise and ducked lower against the pegasus' neck as a bullet zipped past her face, singing her hair.

Percy twisted around in alarm, spotting SHIELD HQ still not far off. Agents stood on the rooftop, trying to gun them down. His hand was slick with sweat as he held on to his girlfriend for dear life, not daring to look down at the dizzying drop below him. Then, his hand slipped.

"No—!" Annabeth shouted, leaning farther in a vain attempt to catch him again. She screamed after him as he fell, urging Blackjack to move faster.

Suddenly, Percy felt an arm wrap around his waist and his stomach did a somersault. The world went dark and the son of Poseidon grit his teeth to keep from throwing up. After a very unpleasant skin-tugging sensation, he felt something solid underneath him. He was surprised to see it was a pegasus. Nico's, in fact. He glanced up and saw the son of Hades in front of him.

"You all right?" Nico asked, almost having to shout over the popping of the gunfire and the roar of the wind. Percy thought he saw the son of Hades sway precariously, but he quickly righted himself.  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Percy lied, trying to get lower to avoid being shot.

It wasn't long before they were out of range, though, and the flashes of light signalling impending bullets stopped.

Athena sighed. What was the point anymore? It was like arguing with a brick wall, trying to talk sense into Ares. Every single god on the Olympian council voted yes except for—you guessed it—the god of war himself. Which made absolutely no sense, of course. They were voting on going to war.

"If we don't come to an agreement soon, I'm just going to kill them all," Zeus grumbled.

Artemis made an exasperated sound. Strange, how even gods could get in fights and be annoyed at each other.

"If you're going to smite someone, I vote SHIELD. They're the bad guys, right?" Hermes piped up.

"From my point of view, yes, they are," Athena said. "I know we're not supposed to get involved in our children's lives, but they're going to be slaughtered."

Ares looked like he was getting ready to pout. "They can take care of themselves."

"They are our only hope if a future war erupts. What happens when the giants climb out of Tartarus? Or the Titans?" Athena retorted.

The room fell silent.

"It's settled then," Hephaestus grunted. "We're going to have to help them out this time."

Zeus hefted his master bolt. "If one more SHIELD agent marches into my sky again and starts meddling in Olympian affairs, I'm going to use this thing…"

Nick Fury sat at his desk, thinking. His fingers were steepled in front of his narrowed eyes. The words that had been spoken just hours earlier rang through his head.  
If you try to talk to them again, he'll kill more.

_I don't believe any one of them are capable of that._

_They seem like a relatively peaceful people._

_It's our duty to put a stop to them before they do hurt someone._

Being the director of SHIELD was not easy at all. Especially since that meant you had to make all the tough decisions. Fury had learned that the hard way. Pity or compassion only led to millions of deaths. Sometimes, you had to do what was necessary for the greater good. Sometimes, you had to choose between two people dying or ten. That's just the way it was.

And Nick Fury saw no choice. The only problem was the public. He clicked on his computer and scanned through the different news articles. One was headlined, Government hunts young boy; and yet another, Innocent caught in the crossfire. The last one caught the director's attention. It was titled Avengers take on new threat—teenage boy? A snapshot—which looked like it had been taken from someone's cell phone—was placed right beside the article. Fury clicked the image to enlarge it and studied Percy Jackson's expression. Panic. Anger. Fear. Determination. Those didn't seem like the qualities of a dangerous criminal. But you never knew…

He clicked on a folder labeled Photos near the top of the page and scrolled through them. All of them were grainy and distorted, just quick glances of what the pedestrians had seen. Jackson cornered in an alleyway by Steve and Natasha, a massive water wall surging towards a helicarrier hanging above the ocean, a selfie with Ironman on a park bench that read "Recycling Makes the World Go 'Round". Fury rolled his eyes and moved on.

In all of these situations, Jackson was defending himself. Did present innocence outweigh past guilt? Fury wasn't sure.

Suddenly, the door to his office swung open. Just as he was about to go on a spiel about how rude it was to walk in without knocking, Agent Maria Hill launched into her explanation.

"Sir, we've got a situation with the squad by the camp."

"What do you mean "situation"? What's going on?" Fury stood and started to follow her out the door.  
"This is going to sound very strange, Sir, but they flew back in."

"What?"

"The demigods that managed to escape the camp earlier, they're back. They just flew in on a bunch of—"

"Pegasuses. Agent Coulson told me." Fury shook his head. He should have known.

"Actually, Sir, I believe the correct word would be "pegasi," Agent Hill corrected respectfully.

Fury kept walking.

** Yeah, I know the gods scene was crappy. I did a sucky job of capturing their characters. Oh well, dang it. So…Wow, there was a great response to that last chapter. Thank you all so much! I got a lot of questions, so I'm not going to be able to answer them all here, but if your question wasn't answered, please feel free to PM me! :D So first off, I was surprised to see a ton of you guys put a lot of thought into your questions and suggestions. Some of you asked what the effects of the Politician bullet would be on demigods without powers and such. You'll just have to wait and find out I guess! :) Yes, I do know how I'm gonna let the Avengers into Camp Half-Blood—mwuahahah! I won't be involving the Kanes and their Egyptian stuff in this story, but possibly in another one. Also, I might add Coulson's team, but nothing past season 1 since I'm so far behind and clueless. Oops XD Yeah, the Stolls made it out and are on their own pegasus (I might have forgotten to mention them oops) And basically a lot of other questionable stuff I have (i.e. demigod-proof cell, the Politican, etc.) is just me bending the rules a bit because I'm not brilliant like the Marvel peeps and Stan Lee and Rick Riordan. :D I really appreciate all the suggestions and such, it really keeps me on track. I really do try to please you guys, but you can't make everyone happy, right? Don't like, don't read. (Not trying to be rude, etc. :D) Thank you all! :D :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

As soon as the pegasus' hooves hit the dirt of Camp Half-Blood, Percy slumped to the side and fell to the ground with a thump.

"Percy!" Annabeth called, helping her semi-conscious boyfriend to stand. She was vaguely aware of one of the Apollo campers helping the exhausted Nico. Travis ran over and helped her support Percy. They started toward a group of the camp medics, who were all surrounding the now unconscious Nico, but Percy stopped them.

"Wait," he slurred. "Gotta see Chiron."

"Percy, you just fell off your pegasus and your still bleeding from a gunshot wound. You're getting fixed up first."

"Gotta see Chiron," he repeated, sea green eyes drooping. "I's really important, Ann'beth…"

When her boyfriend looked at her with those big, pleading eyes, she felt a piece of her resistance crumble. Nevertheless, she stayed strong. "Sorry, Seaweed Brain. But you're not going anywhere until you can actually say my name without sounding like you're completely drunk."

It couldn't have been more than three minutes since Annabeth and the Stolls sat down when it happened. A watery Iris-Message appeared between Annabeth and Chiron, the image of Reyna shimmering to life.

"Reyna!" Annabeth said in surprise. The praetor turned to look at Annabeth and smiled in greeting. The smile never reached her eyes, though.

"The Legion is ready for war," she said to Chiron, glancing over at the other three demigods in the room. "We're 3 miles from your location. Everyone is armed and ready."

"Thank you, Reyna," Chiron said. "But—"

"Mortals can't be harmed by celestial bronze or imperial gold," Travis interrupted. "I'm assuming you guys don't have like a bunch of rifles or anything, huh?"

Reyna pursed her lips, glancing behind her and motioning someone forward. Frank came into view, the side of his face a little distorted by the edge of the Iris-Message.

"Hey, guys," he said with a little half wave. "Yeah, we're ready. We managed to secure about a hundred handguns and a bunch of real swords, thanks to some anonymous contacts. I think we're ready." His words sounded nonchalant, but his tone was deadly serious. His eyes were dark with worry and acceptance all mixed together.

"Okay, great. The Hephaestus cabin has been working on some weapons for mortals, too," Annabeth said. "I put Leo in charge myself."

Reyna raised both eyebrows, but Frank grinned a little.

"That shouldn't be a problem, then," he said.

Reyna intervened, this time addressing Chiron. "We have a new problem, though, Chiron."

"What is it? What happened?" He asked. The two demigods stepped aside, and behind them, standing with perfect posture, was Steve Rogers himself. Reyna and Frank moved back into the frame.

"He's offered to bargain with us, call a truce, peace treaty, whatever he can do to prevent a war. He says he doesn't want to fight against a bunch of kids, even if they are armed and dangerous."

The Big House went silent. Annabeth wished she had Daedalus' laptop once again, this time to do as much research on Steve Rogers as she could.

Reyna continued. "He claims you will have safe passage to our location and a safe return. No crossed fingers. Although, just the fact that they have managed to know where we were disturbs me."  
Chiron nodded. "I assume a Legion of demigods would not be hard to spot, even with the help of the Mist."

Reyna inclined her head, conceding the point.

"We'll join you. We need demigods from both camps to talk to him before we decide what to do," Chiron said solemnly.

Reyna nodded. "Bring weapons. Who will you be sending?"

"I'll go," Annabeth volunteered.

"Jason will want to go, too," Connor chimed in.

"No doubt," Annabeth said. "I'll check with Percy and Nico, but I'm seriously doubting either one of them will make it out of this camp without falling over." She glanced at Chiron, and he nodded.

"What happened to Percy?" Frank asked. "I mean, I know Nico was captured by SHIELD, but I thought Percy got away."

Annabeth nodded. "We went in to rescue Nico, and Percy got shot. As usual." She smiled a little at the thought of her dorky boyfriend's heroics. Her eyes darkened, however, when she remembered the state he'd been in when she'd left him to the Apollo campers.

"Tell him to take it easy, okay?" Reyna said, worry in her eyes. "Nico, too. I don't know where we'd be without those two."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Me neither."

It was raining when Annabeth found Percy in his cabin. She knocked on the door, and when she heard a groan from the other side, opened it. "Percy?"

More unintelligible moaning.

"Percy? Are you talking in your sleep?" Annabeth asked, a little smile touching her lips.

"No."

Annabeth sank down onto the bed beside her boyfriend, who lay facedown on his pillow.

"I hope you're not drooling on your new pillow."

"Annabeth…" His protest was muffled by the fabric.

"Your mom spent a lot of time sewing that for you."

Percy rolled over and stared up at his girlfriend. He tried to be angry with Annabeth for disturbing him, but he couldn't find it in himself to muster anything but a smile.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, concerned. The daughter of Athena ran her hands through Percy's dark hair.

"Remember when I got poisoned by that Gorgon's blood?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said solemnly, remembering. Thankfully, Bob and Damasen had arrived just in time to heal him before he…yeah.

"I feel like that."

Annabeth gave him a sympathetic smile and kissed him on the forehead. "Should I get some abrosia?"  
Percy shook his head. "Already had some. I think I had a little too much, actually. Not feeling too well." He paused for a minute, then moved over to give Annabeth some room. He patted the now empty spot beside him and looked at her with pleading eyes.

Annabeth's heart melted, but she knew they needed to get to the Legion and talk to Rogers. He'd said they had an hour about twenty minutes ago. She needed to get moving.

"Sorry, Percy. I really wish I could, but I can't. We got news from Reyna."

The sad look on the son of Poseidon's face shifted to curiosity. "Really? What did she say?"

Annabeth smoothed out a corner of Percy's quilt that had been turned over. "You remember Steve Rogers?"

"Captain America, right?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Apparently, he's at the Legion's camp right now, a few miles from here. He wants to try to arrange some sort of peace treaty before war breaks out. Jason and I are going. Piper's coming along too, with her charmspeak and all."

Percy took a minute to think about everything she'd just said before responding, a haunted look in his eyes. "No."

"No? No what?"

"No, you can't go. Please don't go."

"Percy, what's wrong? You're scaring me, here." She'd never seen her boyfriend this terrified since they'd escaped Tartarus. What had happened to shake him up this much?

He swallowed thickly. "I had a dream. You…you can't go. He'll kill you. The peace thing won't work out. They're going to attack Camp Half-Blood and we're going to be slaughtered." His voice was shaking.  
Annabeth took her boyfriend's hand. "Hey, it's all right. Okay? I'll be fine. They've granted us safe passage there and back. No one's going to kill anyone without going through me first," she said confidently.

"That's what I'm afraid of." His voice was weak. She leaned over and kissed him, then ran a hand through his hair one more time.

"I'll be fine, I swear. I'm going to go check on Nico, then we're leaving. Okay?"

Percy nodded, his eyes starting to droop. "Be safe…"

"Take it easy, Percy Jackson. I think you can take a break from saving the world for a day." Annabeth smiled.

**Well, that was basically a filler. Happy Valentine's Day Everybody! Love you all! 3**

_**Arrow :D**_


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Reyna paced back in forth under the shade of the tent, absentmindedly sticking her hand into the bag of candy resting on the desk and tossing a blue jellybean into her mouth. What were they going to do? How could they trust anything Rogers said? Even if they did strike a peace treaty, why would the rest of SHIELD follow suit? She was just about to eat another jellybean when Frank appeared.

"Hey, Reyna. They're here." He pushed aside the tent flap a little bit and moved aside to admit four people.

Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Annabeth Chase, and Hazel Levesque entered the tent. Piper stepped forward and hugged Reyna, asking her how she'd been doing since the Giant War.

"Good, actually. Frank turned out to be a better praetor than I thought." Reyna grinned, and Frank laughed.

"Someone's gotta make sure Hannibal doesn't get too many treats."

Jason smiled, glad the two were getting along. Reyna had lightened up quite a bit, as well. He was relieved that she seemed a lot happier since Frank became praetor. "So…Reyna. Where's the infamous Captain America?"

She motioned for the group to follow her. "He's in the "jailbird tent", as Vitellius likes to call it."

Jason snorted.

Before she entered the "jailbird tent", she turned and addressed Annabeth. "Percy's doing well? And Nico…?" Truthfully, Reyna was concerned for Nico. She'd finally found a friend she could really relate to—connect with. The thought of losing him…Reyna shook her head almost invisibly.

Annabeth nodded. "They're a bit groggy, but nothing they can't get over in time."

Reyna seemed relieved, but then again Annabeth could never tell how Reyna felt most of the time. "Good." She turned on her heel, poker face ready, and led the group into the tent.

Captain America glanced up as the group moved inside.

Annabeth noted the four demigods—all armed with shining swords—guarding each corner of the tent. The daughter of Athena had no doubt there were more outside.

Rogers sat in a plastic chair, one that you'd typically find in a school. His piercing blue eyes followed Annabeth as she came to a standstill in front of him.

The tent was crowded and becoming almost unbearably stuffy, so Reyna dismissed the four guards. On their way out, one of them tied one of the entrance flaps open, letting in the cool, post-rain air.

"Captain America."

Jason glanced at Annabeth, unable to tell if her voice held awe, venom, or sarcasm.

"You blew up our car," she stated bluntly. She figured "our" sounded a lot better than "my boyfriend's step-dad's car".

Rogers held his hands up defensively. "That wasn't me. That was Stark." He said the name with a certain amount of distaste. Annabeth couldn't decide if she should trust him more or less for that.  
"The peace treaty," Reyna said, reining in the conversation.

Steve nodded. "I've spoken with my director. He'll tell his agents to stand down if we can arrange the terms of surrender—"

"Woah woah woah, hold on a second. Surrender?" Jason sounded incredulous. "Who told you we were surrendering?"

"You're the ones who started this," Annabeth added.

Steve paused momentarily, and in that moment Reyna thought she saw anger ignite in his eyes. "Look, I don't want to fight you guys. You seem peaceful enough." He lowered his voice. "This isn't my choice, okay?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't matter whose choice it is. Either we come to an agreement on a truce, or there's going to be bloodshed."

"You would do anything to keep a war from breaking out, Rogers," Piper intervened. "Isn't that right?"

Rogers seemed a little stunned for a minute, then he nodded.

"You don't want to murder children." She continued.

"Uh-uh." Frank shook his head quietly. Piper's charmspeak wasn't only affecting Rogers.

"You want to tell your director that it's immoral to start a war with a peaceful people." Piper took a step forward, tilting her head a little as if sympathetic. "Captain America is supposed to do good, be righteous. Not cruel."

There was a moment of silence, in which an almost inaudible sound was heard.

"What is that?" Reyna whispered.

"It sounds like voices." Frank put in. Piper didn't take her eyes off Captain America.

"Schist." Hazel flicked her wrist upward, and a small metal object flew into her palm. "It's an earpiece. He's had someone in his head this whole time."

"What?" Piper demanded.

Captain America seemed to lurch out of his charmspeak-induced stupor.

Reyna took the device from Hazel and held it in front of Steve. "Who's been talking to you?" She demanded, leaning in close. Aurum and Argentum prowled into the tent.

"It was just my director, ma'am. I—"

Reyna's eyes flashed dangerously. "It's praetor to you, Rogers. I'm not an old lady. And secondly, I thought you were against your director's actions. Now, we find he's been listening to this the whole time! Were those his words you were using? Terms of surrender?"

Steve shook his head. "I'm being honest with you, I don't want to fight—"

"—a group of teenage kids." Reyna finished. "And yet you continue to betray our trust."

Steve Rogers seemed to regret following orders and bringing the earpiece. He looked truly worried that he'd screwed up major time. "How can you talk about trust when she just brainwashed me?" Steve motioned towards Piper. Jason moved in front of her protectively, as if by mentioning her name she would be SHIELD's next target.

Jason shook his head. "You never trusted us to begin with."

"Okay, I'm sorry. Look, I had orders, and I had to follow them no matter how much I hated it. I didn't have a choice. It was either negotiate with the earpiece or not at all." He said it quietly, as if he was trying not to let his director hear. 'I don't want a war any more than you do."

"Always the faithful little soldier." Annabeth scoffed. Hazel looked a little surprised to hear so much venom in her friend's voice.

"Then don't." Everyone turned to look at Reyna.

"Don't what?" Jason asked quietly. "Reyna, you can't mean that—"

Reyna took a deep breath, a pensive look on her face. "Join us. You say you don't want to fight against us, then prove it. Help us defend ourselves against SHIELD."

Annabeth whirled on Reyna. "What are you talking about? Do you even hear yourself?" Piper put her hand on Annabeth's shoulder, but the daughter of Athena shrugged it off. Her eyes were alight with rage and betrayal. "He's the enemy! How can we trust him when he's already done so much damage? He ganged up on Percy with the rest of his team! What does that say about his character, Reyna?" Her shoulders shook with anger, and a light breeze swept into the tent and blew her blonde hair across her face.

Reyna's poker face was invincible. "I know you're angry with him, Annabeth. So am I. But if we're going to have any chance at winning this war, we need him."

"We fought Gaea without him. We killed the giants without him. We won the Titan War without him. Why do we need Captain America now?"

"Annabeth, you of all people should understand my reasoning. There are choices you have to make as praetor, and not all of them are easy. Sometimes you have to take risks, and it looks like this will have to be one of them." The rest of the demigods in the tent were watching the heated argument intensely, waiting for something to happen.

Annabeth crossed her arms, seeming to concede the point. As a daughter of the goddess of wisdom, it was hard for her not to see the truth in Reyna's words. For the sake of her pride, she counted to ten before speaking. "Fine."

Reyna nodded slightly. She turned to face Steve again. "What do you say? Will you fight with us?"  
Captain America's blue eyes moved around the tent, seeming to have in internal battle with himself. It was a tough call, but Steve knew what he had to do. As an agent of SHIELD and a member of the Avengers team, it was his duty to do the right thing, even if he hated it.

"All right. But I'm not going to hurt any of them, understand?"

Reyna smiled grimly. "Very well." She turned, addressing Frank along with the rest of the demigods. "I think it would be wise to have him gather itel for us." She said it as if she had been thinking of this same plan all along.

"Wait." Frank stepped forward. "Send me."

"What?" Jason glanced at him.

"Hazel can use the Mist to disguise me, and this way we don't have to worry about him telling SHIELD what's happened here. They can't know about Piper's charmspeak or anything else he's seen here."  
"Hazel?" Reyna looked at her.

Hazel nodded slowly. "Yes, I think I could do it. It would be dangerous though, Frank…"

"I know, but I have to do this." He looked at Reyna for confirmation, and she nodded.

"Good then," she said. "Feed them false information, we could use any advantage we can get. Be careful, Zhang." She smiled at him.

"I will." Hazel and Frank left the tent.

Captain America grit his teeth, trying to harden his resolve. His loyalties were swaying dangerously like a rope bridge over a waterfall. But he had to do this. No way was he going to fight a bunch of kids who'd never done anything to provoke SHIELD.

Reyna uncovered the earpiece and held it to her mouth. She spoke loudly. "Listen up, director of SHIELD—whoever the Hades you are. You blew it. Forget the truce. We're sending Captain Rogers back to you unharmed. That's as far as we're going to extend mercy. Just remember, this was your doing, not ours." Then she dropped the device into the grass and stepped on it.

~*~

"I don't know if it's safe for you three to go back." Frank sounded worried.

The group now stood outside, where the rain had started up again. Thankfully, there were only a few droplets falling from the heavens instead of the thick sheets that had fallen earlier.

"He's right," Reyna said. "After this we can't count on any promises SHIELD has made. If they can't keep their promise to come alone, they won't keep their word and give us safe passage back, either."

Piper rocked back on her heels. "Maybe I could go first and charmspeak them? It seemed effective enough on Rogers."

Jason opened his mouth to shoot the suggestion down, but Hazel intervened. "Actually, that's a good idea."

Jason was shaking his head emphatically. "Uh, no. I don't think so. Have you seen what they're capable of?"

"Hazel's right." Annabeth glanced at Piper, who was looking very determined. "It's our only way to get back."

"I can protect myself, Jason. Don't worry about me." Piper smiled at him encouragingly.

Jason wasn't the overprotective type, but after the Giant War had almost taken his girlfriend from him too many times to count, he was a little different. "I think we should stay here." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than everyone else.

Reyna shook her head. "If war breaks out, you should be with your camp. They'll need a leader."

Their gazes locked for just a second too long before Reyna glanced away.

Jason sighed reluctantly. "All right." He hooked an arm around Piper's shoulders.

"Okay then," she said. "Let's go. Just leave the talking to me."

-PAGE BREAK

Blackjack's hooves thumped lightly on the soft ground before coming to a halt.

"…should've brought an umbrella…" Percy was muttering. He shook his dark hair like a wet dog and dismounted. "Thanks, buddy."

No problem, man. How about a tip for the driver? Maybe one of those awesome donuts your mom buys?

The son of Poseidon grinned and pet his pegasus behind the ears. "I'll bring you some next time."

That's what you said the last time, and it was at least two days before I actually got the donut, Blackjack protested.

"I promise you'll get your donut by midnight tonight," Percy amended, patting the animal on the flank. "I have to get back to my cabin now, before Annabeth gets back."

Blackjack bobbed his head in agreement. Better hurry, boss. She's coming over the hill.

Percy glanced toward Half-Blood Hill and, sure enough, he caught sight of his girlfriend's golden blond hair.

"Thanks again." Percy walked as quickly as he could without aggravating his wounds to the little porch attached to Cabin 3. Blackjack spread his wings and took to the sky as Percy closed the door behind him. The son of Poseidon climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin, closing his sea green eyes to sleep.

**Why in the Hades did it take you so long to update? you were probably wondering. Yeah, I do realize its been almost a month. I'm sorry. I was trying to figure out any other way to write this chapter because I think I did a horrible job on it. So..yeah. I do realize it sucked. Hopefully the next one will be better. And another thing, this story is almost over! The final battle is fast approaching. Thank you all!**

_**Arrow :D**_


	19. Chapter 19

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"I am never letting you do that again," Jason grumbled, brushing a popcorn kernel off of his sleeve.

"Hey, if it works…" Piper said, grinning.

"Yeah, that almost didn't work." Jason allowed himself a small smile.

"Good work, Piper," Annabeth intervened. "We wouldn't even be alive right now if it weren't for you."

"I'm just grateful Leo made me bring along that popcorn bomb. That certainly came in handy." The daughter of Aphrodite waved to one of her siblings leaving cabin 10.

Annabeth veered away from the couple and started towards the Poseidon cabin. "I'm going to see Percy. I'll meet you guys at the Big House."

Jason nodded.

Annabeth paused momentarily to watch their hands intertwine as they headed toward the cozy building where Chiron would be waiting for them. They were so happy now that the war was over. She didn't want to see another one break them up.

Before she could knock, the door swung open and there was Percy, a thick blanket wrapped around his shivering frame, green eyes looking alive. Thankfully.

"Hey, we're back. How are you feeling?" She took a step forward and wrapped her arms around him gently. She buried her face into his hair and breathed in, happy to be home and safe with her boyfriend.

Rain.

"Better, actually," Percy replied, holding her close. "Still not great, though."

She pulled away and stared at him. Why had she smelled rain on him? He always smelled like the ocean, but this was different. Fresher and…well, not like the ocean. That's when Annabeth realized his hair was wet. Not just damp, like he'd just taken a shower, but wet, like he'd just jumped in the lake.  
"Did the truce work out? I'm gonna guess no." He said, looking her in the eyes.

Annabeth sighed. "Not exactly. But good news, we got Captain America on our side. He's fighting for us now."

Percy stopped cold. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "No…Annabeth…this isn't right. I knew this would happen." His voice was edged with frustration.

Annabeth remembered how her boyfriend had pleaded with her not to go help with the negotiations, saying that he'd had a dream. They're going to attack Camp Half-Blood and we're going to be slaughtered.

Percy tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling. His quilt had fallen to the floor and was now puddled around his feet.

She didn't try to tell him everything would be okay. She didn't deny the fact that most of a demigod's dreams came true. And Annabeth also didn't tell him she was sorry for what had happened. Because none of it would help. Those words were empty. And they had long since discovered the uselessness of desolate words.

Heaviness descended upon the two until Annabeth couldn't take it anymore. Not only was she brimming with curiosity and annoyance, but she was also happy to break the aura of sadness around them.

"Percy, what did you do?" She demanded.

"What do you mean, Annabeth?" He looked at her, his mouth in a confused smile. He seemed ready to forget about his prophetic dream and the Avengers, too. "I was laying in bed and then I got up and opened the door and—"

"No, before that. Did you go outside?" Then a thought seemed to hit her. "Did you follow me, Percy? Because I swear to the gods if you did I will—"

"No, Wise Girl. I didn't follow you." The son of Poseidon was grinning. His cheeks were flushed, and Annabeth knew that going out in the rain probably gave him a cold. "I trust you too much for that."  
"That's good to know," she mumbled. "But where did you go?"

Percy sighed, then stepped back into his cabin. He held the door open for his girlfriend, then closed it behind her. "I wanted this to be a surprise, but…" He opened a drawer in his nightstand. "…I guess you're too smart for that." He flashed her a cheeky grin.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Close your eyes."

He opened her left hand palm up and placed something in the center.

"Okay…open."

Annabeth's gray eyes opened slowly and she stared down at the object in her hand. "Wow…Percy…"  
"It used to be Paul's, back when he was into guns and stuff. He figured that we could use it more than he could."

The polished pistol was heavy in Annabeth's hand as she stared down at it. When she didn't say anything more, Percy's smile fell.

"Yeah, its kind of a lot to take in. I'm not sure if I'm ready for it, either." His voice was quiet. "I just wanted you to be able to defend yourself. In case…" In case my dream comes true. The unsaid words lingered in the air.

Annabeth nodded slowly. "It's a scary thought. Actually killing…people. Not just monsters." They were both silent for a moment. "Thank you, Seaweed Brain." She leaned forward and kissed him, growing worried at how feverish his skin felt. Being out in the rain definitely hadn't helped any, and Annabeth figured he'd been too busy trying not to pass out to keep himself dry.

Percy closed his eyes for a minute, and a deep shudder ran through his body. "So I guess we're going to war."

"Again."

"I knew this would happen." Percy repeated. "I should have…" His shoulders sagged.

The daughter of Athena set the gun down on the nightstand and took Percy's hand. "There's nothing any of us could have done. Don't blame yourself, Percy." Pain shone in his eyes—both physical and emotional.

"I don't think I can fight another war, Wise Girl. I don't want to do this again." Fear lingered behind the tears shining in his eyes. "After…" he swallowed thickly, trying to force the word out. "…Tartarus, I can't do it anymore."

Annabeth squeezed his hand and rested her head against his chest. "I know," she whispered. "Neither can I."

"Why can't they just leave us alone?" His voice broke, and tears filled Annabeth's eyes. "First it was Kronos, then it was Gaea and her giants, and now SHIELD…What have we ever done to them?"

Annabeth stayed quiet, knowing that sometimes the best comfort you could give was a willingness to listen.

"I thought we could finally be normal. Have a nice, quiet life in New Rome. I guess not…"

Annabeth's body began to shake with quiet sobs. She knew exactly how he felt. She didn't want any of this either. And honestly, she wasn't sure either of them would survive the upcoming held Percy tightly, and he held her, as they finally stopped trying to outrun the grief and cried.

-PAGE BREAK

Nico hated it when he accidentally killed the flowers; especially around the Demeter cabin. He tried to ignore them as they hurriedly revived their plants. Thankfully, none of them seemed angry with Nico. It was hard to keep things in check when he was injured or exhausted. Both of which he was right now, but he couldn't take one more minute stuck in his cabin. He needed to get out.

Reyna had Iris-messaged him—a skill Grover had taught her—almost forty-five minutes ago. The son of Hades and the daughter of Bellona had grown really close over the summer after the giant war. The two really connected on a deeper level, and they both shared a mutual trust.

Reyna had vented her emotions for ten minutes before Nico finally got her to calm down. He was the only one who ever saw that side of her, and part of him was glad for it. Finally, he had found someone who liked him—trusted him, too. They talked quietly for another twenty minutes before Reyna had to leave. There wasn't much time to socialize when you needed to save your whole race of half-gods. Again.

After that Nico had decided to take a walk. His head no longer spun when he stood, thanks to the ambrosia and nectar Will Solace had given him.

After he passed the Demeter cabin, he wandered towards the volleyball pit, which was currently empty. He stood at the edge of the grass for a moment, thinking of what Reyna had told him almost a month ago.

You should try it sometime; it can really help with anger.

Nico glanced around, then kicked off his shoes and stepped barefoot into the pit. He let the cold sand cover his feet and sat down. He rubbed idly at the wound on his arm, dislodging the bandage a little bit. It was almost completely healed, but it still ached. Nico didn't mind, though. The dull pain helped him think.

His eyes were just beginning to droop with exhaustion when he heard footsteps behind him. His head snapped up and he was on his feet in a millisecond, eyes wide and startled.

"Hey, Nico. It's just me."

The son of Hades relaxed when he realized who it was.

Jason Grace sat next to him, pulling off his sneakers and tossing them into the grass. "So, we've got a new ally."

Nico glanced at him, puzzled. "Who?"

"Captain America. Reyna convinced him to join us. Personally, I don't trust the guy, but…hey. We need all the help we can get."

Nico's eyes narrowed. "And you're sure his loyalties are with us?"

Jason sighed. "No. We brought him in behind the Big House to talk to Chiron. He'll make sure things go smoothly."

Nico stayed silent, unsure of how he felt about all this. "Where's Piper?" He glanced over his shoulder, expecting to see the daughter of Aphrodite standing there.

"One of the campers got bubblegum stuck in her hair. Piper was trying to help her get it out without shaving her head last time I saw. We just finished talking to Chiron. He's having a one-on-one with Mr. America now." He paused. "I was getting ready to go find you, but then I saw you down here. All by yourself." He gave Nico a sideways glance.

Nico considered ignoring that comment, but decided against it. "I needed some time to think." There was a moment of silence before Jason spoke again.

"I used to come here all the time, right after Hera had taken my memory. It helped me remember."  
Nico looked over at him. "How?"

"I don't know. I think it was the sand. It was almost…therapeutic, you know?" Jason started to bury his feet in the sand.

Nico couldn't help but think how much he looked like a kid at that moment. After all, he was only a teenager. He wasn't even a legal adult yet, and already he had fought more monsters than Nico could count, saved the world, and still somehow managed to keep his sanity.

"How do you do it?" Nico asked suddenly, surprised at himself for saying anything.

Jason frowned. "Do what? The sand thing?" He kicked the sand off of his feet. "I was just using the wind currents to make it float up onto my feet—"

Nico shook his head. "No. I mean, how do you keep from going insane when you're fighting a war every other weekend. The fate of the world resting on your shoulders…"

Jason paused, letting a few grains of sand he'd been levitating fall back into the court. "Well, technically fate doesn't rest on my shoulders, since that's up to the Three Fates." He shot a glance at Nico and saw he wasn't appreciating his humor. Jason sighed gently and leaned back a little. "You just have to have someone with you, I think. I mean, when I was at Camp Jupiter I had my cohort, then I had Reyna, and now I have Piper. You gotta find someone who will never leave your side." He looked over at the son of Hades, who was staring distantly at the sand. Jason could tell he was listening, though. "And then you never let that person go. Hold on to them with all your strength, and you'll pull through."

Nico opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted by a loud shout coming from the Big House. The two demigods exchanged a glance. A scream rent through the air, and Jason and Nico were running toward the noise.

**Okay, so I thought I knew where this story was going, but all of the characters just kind of ran away from me. Does that happen to you guys? It's like one minute I'm controlling them, and the next they're just doing their own thing. Like…bruh. Sorry if this chapter is a bit confusing, I didn't have enough Annabeth and Jason to go around. Next chapter will include a few details filled in and a much needed chat with Chiron, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Nico. And thank you for all the kind comments on the last chapter XD**

_**Arrow :D**_


	20. Chapter 20

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

"What is wrong with you?" A feminine cry hung in the air, suspended on the thick tension surrounding the demigods. "This man is a traitor! He should be tried and executed!"

"Clarisse, calm down." Will Solace stepped forward, hands out in a placating gesture. "Look, no one trusts the guy—"

"I kinda like him," Travis mumbled.

"I heard his shield shoots flames," Connor put in.

Will ignored them. "—but I agree with Annabeth. If we want to have any chance of winning this war, we need him."

Clarisse huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Jason stumbled to a halt, careful to stay out of sword's reach of the daughter of Ares. He glanced at Nico, who was breathing heavily beside him. His jaw was clenched tightly, as if the run had aggravated his wound. Jason felt concerned for the son of Hades, but refrained from putting an arm around his shoulders and telling him to take it easy. Jason saw Will cut his eyes toward Nico, obviously worried. They shared a knowing look, then turned back to the grumbling crowd.

"Who screamed?" Nico demanded, looking around at the group. "Is something wrong?"

"Wrong?!" Clarisse screeched. "It seems like everyone around here is completely incapable of doing anything but wrong!"

"Clarisse, shut up," Will snapped.

Nico seemed to consider his question answered and stayed quiet.

"Calm down, everybody. You're all overreacting." Katie Gardner piped up.

"You guys are just going to have to trust us on this one." Annabeth was standing on the porch beside Chiron, her blonde hair hanging loose around her shoulders. There were dark shadows underneath her gray eyes like storm clouds, and barely visible tear tracks ran down her cheeks. Had she been crying? Percy—shoulder to shoulder with his girlfriend and holding her hand—looked equally disheveled. His eyes were bloodshot, and his posture was decidedly slumped.

"Reyna is a good judge of character. So are Annabeth and Piper. If they believe he's loyal to us, then…I guess I do, too." Percy seemed a little grudging to admit it, and Jason could tell he was holding something back.

"Why should we trust someone from SHIELD?" Someone from the Hecate cabin demanded.

Chiron spoke up. "Because you have to. I have spoken with Captain Rogers, and I found his intentions to be pure. He is a righteous man. I met him once, back in the 40's. He was good then, too. We have no choice but to let him help us. He has provided me with key information about the enemy, as well as offering an apology to those he has offended." The centaur stepped to the side as Captain America walked out onto the porch.

For a split second, silence ruled.

Then the riot broke out.

~*~ PAGE BREAK

Frank walked quickly through the hallway, trying to avoid all of the people who looked important. Which was just about everyone. The fewer the questions he was asked, the better. Even though he was given a very short list of information he would need, he still found himself steering clear of most people. Occasionally, he would stop to ask a question when Hazel pointed someone out.

He glanced at her now. While he was disguised as Captain America, Hazel had taken on a very different appearance. She was a petite woman with dark, curly hair—not nearly as beautiful as the real Hazel's, he thought—and she wore a white blouse paired with a black pencil skirt. Frank had no idea how she walked so easily in the nearly two inch heels on her feet, but he guessed it was just as well. Nearly every lady they passed wore giant shoes.

As they reached Director Fury's office—which was marked with SHIELD's logo and his name in block letters on the door—Hazel straightened her identification badge and looked at him.

"I'll wait for you out here," she said. "Good luck." She couldn't risk kissing him then—not when there were SHIELD agents surrounding them. Frank was disappointed.

"Thanks," he mumbled. "I'll probably need it." He nervously smoothed his hair back, then knocked loudly on the door.

"Come in." Nick Fury's voice was deep.

Frank stepped inside, closing the door behind him. He caught a glimpse of Hazel's discreet thumbs up before she disappeared around the corner.

"Sir." Frank stood quietly in front of the director of SHIELD, glancing surreptitiously around the office. Four white walls with a few certificates and the like hanging on them. The wall to his left was covered by a giant bookshelf, but it was so dusty he doubted Fury had used it any time in the last century. There was a desk right in front of him with nothing but an intercom, a miniature potted cactus, and a pile of folders.

"Captain, glad you could make it. I hear your negotiations didn't work out." He looked up from the file he was glaring at and studied Frank.

"Unfortunately, no." The son of Mars was surprised at how much deeper his voice was. He still couldn't get used to the blond hair, either. He felt like a light bulb. "They found out I was wearing an earpiece and…didn't take it well." Frank stumbled over his words, but thankfully Fury didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah. Out of the blue this girl started screaming in my ear." He shook his head. "I had to rip the thing out before my eardrums blew out"

"Do you want me with the men surrounding the camp? I'm prepared to fight now."

Fury glanced back up at him, his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows drawn low over his eyes. "Actually, I was going to ask you to contact Romanoff. She's already down on the front lines with Barton. I've asked Banner to sit this one out. Don't want things getting out of hand, especially since we're walking completely blind into this one."

"Blind? You mean you don't have any information on the…demigods?" Frank paused momentarily, hoping Fury had already figured that part out.

He shook his head obliviously. "Not enough. We've got the Politician, but that's not enough firepower. You know what they say, 'Knowledge is power'."

Frank nodded slowly. "Yes, of course. The Politician—pretty dangerous." He had no idea what the heck he was talking about, but he guessed it was some kind of weapon.

"If only the affects could be permanent…it almost seems like a crime, though. Taking away their ability to wield whatever powers they have—for good." Frank got the suspicion that only rarely was this side of Nick Fury seen, but he wasn't thinking about that. He was trying to swallow the lump in his throat. Take away their powers permanently? What did this thing do, and how did they know that much about the demigods to make it?

"I agree." Frank's voice was small. He barely pressed the words out of his mouth. "Maybe we shouldn't use it, then? Fight with regular weapons, or maybe…"

Fury's smile was thin and grim. "Still trying to be the peacekeeper, Cap? It didn't work, you said so yourself. We've got no other options."

Frank nodded grudgingly. "It's worth a—" His gloved hand shimmered, suddenly turning back into Frank's regular hand. He tucked it behind his back. "—try." What was happening? Was Hazel okay?  
Nick Fury was staring at him. "You feeling all right?" He seemed suspicious.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine." Frank glanced down at his feet and realized he was wearing his own sneakers now, not Captain America's boots. His eyes widened, but before he could do anything else, the cold barrel of a gun was touching his temple.

**Sorry guys, I forgot Katie's last name. Was it Gardener? I also don't know how to spell Natasha's last name. Oops :P Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favorites/reads! :D**

_**Arrow :D**_


	21. Chapter 21

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Demigods were shoving each other, trying to get closer to the porch. The air was thick and ripe with tension and emotion. Nico caught glimpse of Percy standing over them, clutching Annabeth's wrist and trying to get everyone to calm down. Chiron was shouting and stamping his hooves, warning them to stand down or face his wrath.

Someone threw a rock, which was followed by four more. Captain America's SHIELD had been returned to him after his talk with Chiron, and he now held it in front of him. One of the stones struck his knee, ripping the fabric of his pants and leaving a trail of blood. The rocks continued to grow larger as the mob became angrier. Shouts rose up among them, most of which Nico couldn't even make out.

"This is all your fault!"

"We don't need you here!"

"Traitor! Spy!"

Jason grabbed Nico's elbow and tugged him away from the crowd as stray projectiles flew at them. Unfortunately, in his haste the son of Jupiter had reached for Nico's bad arm, and the son of Hades jerked away as the pain flared. His vision went black for a millisecond, but it was long enough for him to bump into Clarisse.

"Get out of the way, Death Breath!" Nico didn't know how she'd learned the old nickname Leo had given him, but it stung. He was on his back, lying in the grass in the next moment. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten there, but his cheeks burned with anger. He lurched to his feet, ignoring the fiery pain erupting from beneath the bandage on his arm. Suddenly, Jason was by his side, leading him out of the crowd. This time he held onto Nico's good arm, and the son of Hades let him. Usually, he would shy from physical contact and insist he would be fine on his own, but he was grateful for Jason's leadership in that instant.

The broke through the outer rim of the mob and tried to catch their breath. They seemed a little quieter now that Annabeth was screaming at them and Chiron had ushered Rogers back into the Big House. But it was still chaos.

Nico blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. His arm burned, and he shivered as memories of the bloodied glass reared its ugly head. He swayed on his feet, leaning on Jason for support. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the Hephaestus campers punch Will—who was trying to play peacekeeper— in the jaw.

And suddenly, it was all too much for Nico. Jason tried to retain his hold on the son of Hades, but Nico shook him off. He skirted the back of the group and took several steps back. He could see Percy and Annabeth's panicked expressions, Chiron's angry one.

He knew it was a bad idea, that he would probably pass out afterwards, but he had no other choice. His dark eyes fell closed and he held his hands out, summoning every inch of darkness in the late afternoon landscape. The sky over Camp Half-Blood clouded instantly, blackness surrounding every camper and wood nymph. The demigods fell silent. Nico's legs trembled.

His eyes snapped open and he shouted, louder than he ever would have thought possible in his condition. "Listen up, everyone! This is stupid! Look at yourselves, throwing rocks at your own heroes, your own teacher." The group turned, obviously afraid of Nico di Angelo. "We need him! Can't you see it? This is war, fellow demigods. And I hate to say it, but we're going to lose this one."

He paused for affect.

"The only way we could ever have a chance is with him." Nico pointed to Steve Rogers, who was standing just inside the door to the Big House. Thankfully, nobody threw anything this time. "It's your choice. You can either die defending your home—but because you were too stupid to get help when you needed it, or you can let him help us and protect this camp." His voice was quieter, but it held passion. Ferocity. Anger.

Annabeth remained silent this time, obviously shaken. It wasn't like her to be unable to calm a crowd and help them see logic. Her and Percy's nerves had become frayed since leaving Tartarus. They had a much smaller tolerance level for chaos and panic. Nico could see the frustration and fear in both of their eyes.

Chiron spoke up. "Thank you, Mr. di Angelo." The group faced him now. Jason caught Nico as he stumbled. The son of Jupiter helped him sit in the grass and motioned for Will Solace to join them.

"Make your decision, demigods," Chiron continued. "Will you let Captain America stay and help us save Camp Half-Blood, or will you turn your only source of hope away?"

It was quiet again, and everyone seemed to be thinking about what to do next.

"All in favor of letting him stay, raise your hand." Percy's voice was raw, but he held his hand high. Annabeth followed suit. And slowly, one by one, the other demigods did the same.

~*~PAGE BREAK

Frank was trying not to panic. Was Hazel all right? Was she hurt? How were they going to escape? He swallowed thickly, his movements tiny.

"I should've seen this coming sooner. What have you done with Rogers?" Fury demanded.

"What do you think we did, kidnap Captain America? Unlikely." He forced as much bravado as he could into his voice.

The director's eyes were as narrow as he glared at Frank. This guy didn't play around. "You don't expect me to believe that lie, do you?"

Frank figured Fury saw some truth in his words, but just wasn't ready to admit it yet. "Of course not. I was just buying some time." Before he'd even finished the sentence, his fingers morphed into claws, his arm turning thick and muscular. His body transformed into a grizzly bear's just as the gunshot splintered the wall behind him. Frank snarled and launched himself at Fury. He wasn't ready to kill the man; that was something he couldn't bring himself to do. But at least he could knock him out and go find Hazel.

Fury was yelling into a device on his desk, firing his gun rapidly at Frank. The demigod-turned-grizzly dodged the bullets and swiped his massive paw at the man's face. Fury was out cold before he hit the ground. Unfortunately for Frank, the doors slid open and six armed guards rushed into the room, three on their knees with massive guns and the others standing behind them.

He threw himself at the guards, trying to ignore the cracking, exploding guns and the bullets peppering the office behind him. Fury had crumpled into a heap behind the desk—which was good because he'd have been shot dead by now if he hadn't. He barreled past the soldiers and charged down the hallway, searching for Hazel. Where was she?

He turned a corner, scattering agents and followed by angry screams and gunfire. And suddenly, there she was. Her curls looked like gold in the glow of the fluorescent lights. Her eyes were alight with fear, but she was fighting. She brandished her spatha—which had been previously disguised—at the three soldiers surrounding her. A trickle of blood ran down her the side of her head.

Frank smashed into the guards before they even had a chance to realize he was there. He sent them scattering like bowling pins and morphed back into his regular old self again. He stayed that way just long enough to make sure Hazel was okay and tell her to follow him. Then he transformed into a lion and plowed through anyone who stood in their way.

They stopped in a long hallway lined with windows. Frank turned human again, staring out. They were at least ten stories up. On both ends of the hallway, shouts erupted and agents lined the entrances. The barrels of their guns were all aimed at the two demigods. Hazel grabbed Frank's wrist, and for a moment their was dead silence. Then Frank turned into a giant eagle, grabbing Hazel in his claws and shielding her with his wings. He spiraled out the window, shattered glass raining down behind them.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"All right, so here's the plan." Annabeth traced the border of camp Half-Blood with her finger. She flattened the edges of the map beneath her other hand. "One half of the Legion will start the attack from their left flank."

"Whose left? Ours or theirs?" Connor asked. He stuffed another cracker in his mouth.

"Ours." Annabeth glanced up at him, unblinking, then looked back down. "Then, when they're distracted, we'll attack from Half-Blood Hill. That's when the other half of the Legion will cut off their right flank. We'll need more volunteers to ride the pegasi and direct the air assault." She looked up, locking gazes with Steve Rogers. "We'll need you on the ground with us. Can you handle that?"

Rogers nodded evenly. He looked determined.

"There's still a lot of them," Clarisse put in. "What if we set up traps and stuff like we did last summer?"

"Yeah." Percy was nodding thoughtfully. "Those would have worked, too, if you guys hadn't put them on the wrong hill." He glared at the Stolls.

Travis shrugged.

"That's where the Demeter and Hecate cabins can help out." Annabeth glanced around the room at the cabin leaders. "The Hecate campers can enhance the traps, and the Demeter campers can disguise them a little better." She paused. "Plus, there's less chance they'll be put in the wrong spot that way."

**Don't worry guys, I won't abandon this story XD**

_**Arrow :D**_


	22. Chapter 22

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

**IMPORTANT: So I messed up two chapters ago and said the effects of the Politician were permanent—which is incorrect. They are still temporary. My bad. Very sorry. Enjoy the chapter :)**

"What the…" Clint Barton held his bow lightly, deciding whether or not to shoot.

Natasha laid a hand on his forearm, keeping him from drawing his bowstring. "Is that girl riding an…eagle?"

The giant bird screeched in response, swooping in low over the mass of agents surrounding Camp Half-Blood.

"I think so." Clint voice was small.

"Don't shoot, I repeat, do not shoot!" An officer somewhere was shouting orders.

"Is she being held hostage? Maybe she's a civilian." The redhead shielded her eyes from the sun.

The agents around them were moving quickly, many taking photographs and live videos streaming directly to SHIELD HQ.

"Don't think so," Barton replied.

"Why not?" Natasha glanced at him as the eagle descended into Camp Half-Blood unhindered.  
Hawkeye smiled slightly. "She's not screaming."

Natasha rolled her eyes just as an agent flanked by two cops approached her. "Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton, Director Fury has requested to speak with you."

Natasha nodded for them to lead the way and the two Avengers turned their backs on Half-Blood Hill.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"Hazel! Are you okay? What happened out there?" The group planning the attack had rallied around Frank and Hazel when they'd landed in the center of the common area.

"I'm fine. Some lunatic pistol whipped me." The daughter of Pluto winced as she wiped more blood from her forehead with her sleeve. "I ducked, so he just barely got me."

"Come on, you need to get that taken care of." Nico stepped forward and led his sister by the elbow to the Apollo cabin. Will Solace ran ahead to get his supplies.

Chiron's gaze settled on Frank. "What happened? Did you gather any information?"

Frank nodded. He turned his gaze away from Hazel. "Well, apparently they've got two of their Avengers team right outside the borders. I don't know where Thor is, though."

"What about the Hulk? Did they bench him?" Percy asked, his quilt wrapped around his shoulders. "Please say they benched him."

"Yeah," Frank nodded. "They did."

The group seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Bad news, though." Frank fiddled with the cuff of his shirt. "They've got a new weapon. One that can take away our powers."

The group was silent for a moment, trying to digest this information. That's when Leo spoke up.

"You mean our godly abilities? Like, Jason's lightning and Annabeth's brain?"

Annabeth glared at the son of Hephaestus, who didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah." Frank hadn't realized Leo'd joined the group until he'd said this. That must be a good thing, though. It meant he'd finished the weapons.

"What else do you know about it? How does it work?" Annabeth asked.

Frank shrugged. "No idea. That's all I got before me and Hazel had to get out of there."

Chiron nodded slowly. "Good work, Frank." He turned to address the entire group gathered. His voice was heavy. "Our attack will begin at dawn. Leo, have you finished the weapons?"

Leo nodded doggedly. This was the one time he actually looked tired. "Fifty swords, twenty five knives, and about ninety-eight assorted guns."

"What happened to the other two?" Percy sneezed.

Leo winced. "You don't wanna know."

Chiron spoke again. "All right, everyone, get some rest. You'll need your strength for the battle."

Then the old centaur climbed the steps to the Big House and disappeared inside.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"Rogers has gone AWOL." Nick Fury's voice was angry and blunt.

"What?" Clint stared into the screen of the video conference, eyes alight with confusion. "What are you talking about? I thought you said the demigods dropped him off back at base."

Fury shook his head. "No, he's still in the camp." He cursed. "They sent a fake in here to gather information. We got some too, though. One of the kids turned into a bunch of different animals and made a mess of headquarters. He flew out of here like a giant eagle."

Clint nodded.

"I should have realized something was wrong." Fury continued to pace around his office angrily.

"You're saying Steve joined them?" Natasha's forehead was wrinkled with thought.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." He mumbled something under his breath about Steve being a "son of a—", but neither Widow nor Hawkeye were paying attention to that.

"I should've seen this coming." Natasha put her hands on her hips. "It's just like Steve to do something this…" She trailed off, searching for the word.

"Heroic? Crazy?" Clint offered.

Natasha shook her head. "Not helping, Clint."

"Romanoff, you're going to accompany me to the camp. We need to talk to Rogers. And Barton, stay here and keep everything under control. Don't fire unless they shoot first. Got it?"  
"Yes, sir," Clint said, switching off the video.

There was a minute of silence before Natasha spoke. "I can't believe Steve would do this. He's supposed to be on our side."

Clint looked at her for a long moment. "Of course you can believe it, Nat. He's Captain America. Captain America doesn't fit a bunch of kids."

She sighed. "I know. But why does he always have to go around getting himself into trouble?"  
Clint laughed, giving her arm a reassuring squeeze before leaving the tent.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"You at least need to take some more ambrosia." Will's voice was firm. Hazel stood next to him, hands on her hips and a thick bandage around her forehead.

"You are not going to stop me from defending my home." Nico's expression was hard. Obviously, his statement was non-negotiable.

Percy's heart warmed when he heard that word. Home. He was glad Nico finally felt accepted and loved after wandering for so long. Annabeth's tugged on his hand, not knowing he'd stopped walking. She turned to face him, and her gray eyes softened when she saw him watching.

They were about ten feet behind the three demigods—Will, Hazel, and Nico. Hazel and Will seemed to be trying to convince Nico he needed rest, while the son of Hades insisted he was fine and should go because he needed to sharpen his sword before the battle.

"Nico, that sword was literally just made yesterday. It hasn't gone dull. I promise." Hazel stared her brother down.

"I told you, I'm going to fight and that's my decision." Nico tried to step past Will, but he moved in front of him.

"We're not saying you can't fight, we're just saying you at least need to get some rest and build up your strength. I know you're not going to listen to me and stay up until two o'clock in the morning again.

Nico shrugged.

They didn't seem to notice Percy and Annabeth watching their exchange. The son of Poseidon glanced at his girlfriend and squeezed her hand.

"They're right, you know," Annabeth murmured to Percy. "Neither of you should be fighting."

Percy sighed. "None of us should be. But we don't really have a choice, do we? Would you stand by while Camp Half-Blood was attacked?"

Annabeth was silent.

A quiet rain began to fall from the sky, and the daughter of Athena leaned into her boyfriend. He wrapped the other half of his quilt around her, shivering a little in the damp, cool air.

"Come on, Percy. You need to get some rest and take an Advil or something, since you can't have any more ambrosia for a while. I think you've got a cold."

As they moved in the direction of their cabins, Percy could hear the three demigods behind them still speaking.

"At least take it easy, will you?" Will Solace was saying. "I can't have you passing out on the battlefield."

"I am not going to pass out." Nico's voice was angry.

"Calm down, Nico." Percy could almost see Hazel wrapping an arm around her brother's shoulder. "Just go get some sleep, okay? I'll see you in the morning."

There were a few quiet words, then Percy heard the door to the Hades cabin close.

**Ooh, Percy's dream is starting to become reality. We got Cap, Widow, and Fury all on the scene at Half-Blood Hill. Yikes**  
**All right, so just to recap: We've got Steve fighting with the demigods now. SHIELD has ten Politicians—a gun that can leech a demigod's powers for a maximum of 4 hours and also temporarily paralyze the area it hits. They also have a few tucked away for safekeeping. Banner's out of the fight, but not Thor. We're gonna have a god vs. god thing coming up. Tony, Natasha, and Clint will all be in the fight, and I hope you guys haven't forgotten about Coulson! I might throw in a few Agents of SHIELD characters, too. See you next chapter! XD**

_**Arrow :D**_  
_**I'm on Quotev too! My username is Reyna Quicksilver if you're on Q too XD**_


	23. Chapter 23

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

Crack! Crack!

Nico jerked awake, feet hitting the cold floor of his cabin and hand wrapped around his Stygian sword before his eyes had even fully opened. When he realized the noise that had woken him had been gunshots, he dropped his dark blade and picked up the mortal one Leo had made for him. It was fashioned to look and feel just like his other one, except it wasn't black and it wasn't made from Stygian iron.

Hazel tumbled out of her bunk, pushing the sheet separating her from her brother out of the way. "What was that?"

"Trouble," Nico answered shortly. He pushed his cabin door open, holding it for Hazel momentarily before letting it fall closed. She had a sword in her hands, as well.

Demigods were rushing from their cabins, various weapons in their hands. Most of them held mortal weapons, not their regular magic ones. Nico caught sight of Annabeth and Clarisse standing in the middle of it all, shouting orders and running their fingers along a map they continued to reference.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" Nico was a little out of breath after running to meet them, and he cursed himself for it. He still wasn't well. Subconsciously, he rubbed at his arm where it had been pierced by the glass of his prison cell just days ago. Thank goodness it had almost completely healed. Still, there was a nasty scar under his sleeve.

"They're at the border, two of them." Annabeth barely glanced at Nico, her eyes too occupied with the pencil in her hand that scribbled furiously on the maps in front of her. "Director Fury and Agent Romanoff."

Nico glanced toward the border, where he saw Chiron standing amidst a sea of demigods.  
"The Hecate and Demeter cabins haven't finished setting up the traps yet, since they were right in the middle of doing it when they arrived." She jerked her thumb toward where Nico assumed the two enemies were. "Chiron's trying to parlay with them, maybe even just stall them for a while until the traps are ready." She took a deep breath, glancing toward cabin 3.

Clarisse, who had been speaking with another camper until this point, finished for Annabeth. "Other than that, everyone else is in position. I've contacted Camp Jupiter, and Reyna said the legion was ready."

"What about Frank?" Nico had seen Frank change form and fly back to Camp Jupiter as a robin, probably to lead his cohorts.

"He made it. Everything seems to be going to plan." Clarisse crossed her arms. "As long as someone doesn't screw it up."

Nico couldn't tell if she was addressing a specific person with that last part, and at the moment he really didn't care. He threw his sword's scabbard over his shoulder, making sure it was cinched in place between his shoulders before glancing back at Annabeth. Her gray eyes were darting around the camp, no doubt searching for her boyfriend. But before she could see him rushing out of his cabin, there was a loud commotion from the group of campers by the border. Annabeth unsheathed her knife and ran for the noise, followed closely by Clarisse.

"Annabeth, wait!" Percy jogged a few steps, hand outstretched toward his disappearing girlfriend, a shiny black object resting in his palm. Nico recognized it immediately. It was a gun. Nico watched as Percy tucked the firearm in the waistband of his jeans, but before he could see more, a hand settled on his shoulder.

Nico's sword was spinning toward the unknown person so fast he almost didn't have time to stop himself before he chopped off Will Solace's hands.

"Woah! Chill, Nico. It's just me." The son of Apollo held his hands protectively, not wanting to get one of them accidentally hacked off.

Nico exhaled. "We need to get down there. Something's really wrong."

Will interrupted his friend. "No." He shook his head. "Chiron gave me a different mission, and you're coming with me." He grabbed Nico by the elbow and ran toward the canoe lake.

~*~PAGE BREAK

"Let me speak with Rogers, and we'll go." Nick Fury's voice was firm, his posture rigid. He was not leaving without Captain America in tow.

"I'm afraid we can't allow that. Captain Rogers is currently unable to speak with you." Chiron was strangely calm, his voice cold and formal.

Campers were throwing rocks through the magic barrier, hitting any agent who dared come too close. Several of them were hitting Director Fury and Agent Romanoff before Chiron finally told them to stop.

Fury could only see the group of people before him; he couldn't see the army of demigods farther down the hill or the sturdy cabins. The only thing he could see for as far as they eye could see were empty strawberry fields.

"He took off his com, so we can't get to him that way," Natasha muttered to herself, sorting through their options.

"Look, let me speak to Mr. America and maybe we can stop this war." Fury's words held no truth. For the record, he was not a bad guy. His job was to protect the earth from the supernatural, and that's exactly what he was doing. How could he risk the billions of people inhabiting the earth by turning a blind eye at this extremely powerful race?

"Would you stop lying?" Annabeth's eyes were hard with furious rage. "You're the one attacking our home. We don't have to give you anything." Her dagger was wickedly sharp and pointed directly at the pair. Fury got the feeling she wasn't afraid to use it.

Chiron put a hand on her shoulder. He turned to address the swarm of campers around them. "Please, demigods. You know where you need to be. Give us some space for negotiations."

"Negotiations?" Clarisse shrieked. "There is no room for negotiations, Chiron. This is war!" She threw her arm in the air, sword held aloft, and gave a war cry.

"Clarisse, calm down," Jason said. "Chiron's got a point. We need to try one more time."

Chiron spoke again. "Annabeth, Jason, and Clarisse, stay with me. You know the most about this situation." Jason opened his mouth to speak, because there were people who knew how to deal with SHIELD better than he did, but he quickly closed it. Chiron had reasoning behind this, he was sure of it. Then he realized what it was.

He wanted them there in case things got ugly. All three of them were the leaders of Camp Half-Blood's army. They could say the code word and the war would begin. Of course, Chiron could do it, too.

But what would happen if somehow, just somehow, one of those agents got through the border and killed the centaur? You could never be too careful.

"Shall we have a seat?" Chiron asked.

**So, two chapters because this second one is short. XD I wanted to give you guys a cliffie MMWUAHAHAHAHAHA And btw constructive criticism is welcome! XD**

_**Arrow :D**_


	24. Chapter 24

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever.**

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember the gun Percy gave Annabeth? It was a pistol, but I went back and changed it to a semiautomatic. Makes more sense for her to have one of those (plus they're cooler lol)**

"Will, what the Hades are we doing?" Nico tugged his arm free of the other demigod's grip and slowed down. They had just reached the canoe lake, and Will was furiously digging his fingers into the sand.

"We're getting help." Will Solace finished digging a shallow hole in the sand and threw a handful of objects inside. A few golden drachmas, an old piece of paper that looked as if it held the lyrics to a song, and a several packages of assorted snacks.

"What…" Nico's voice trailed off when Will struck a match and set the objects on fire. He suddenly understood what was happening. "That's an offering. You're going to ask the gods for help."

Will didn't answer; his eyes were closed and his hands folded in a prayer. Nico could just make out his whispered words. Suddenly his hand darted out and yanked Nico down to the sand with him.

"Help me," he hissed.

Nico bristled at the idea of asking the gods for help, but he saw no other option. Their camp needed help desperately. They may have more warriors than SHIELD, but they didn't have the weapons their opponents did.

The son of Hades closed his dark eyes, a silent prayer running through his head.

"Actually, I think we'll stand." Fury's eyes were cold and angry.

Chiron didn't miss a beat. "Suit yourself." He knew it was important to remain seemingly unconcerned about their situation. Confidence in their own ability to fight could possibly give them an advantage. Though he didn't recline on the grass, Chiron relaxed and made himself look completely comfortable. The demigods beside him were smart enough to follow suit.

"Where is Rogers?" It wasn't a question, it was a command. Chiron knew that SHIELD had to be really worried about this situation to warrant a visit from their director.

Annabeth's stormy eyes narrowed on the strange looking gun barely visible inside Fury's open coat. This must be the weapon Frank was talking about. The daughter of Athena was so angry she would have reached out and shot Fury with his own gun if she could have. Somehow, she didn't assume that would go over well.

"Look, he's on our side now. Unlike you, he's not an idiot." Out of the corner of Annabeth's eye, she could see Jason looking worried. Her words held so much venom he seemed afraid she would do something rash. But Annabeth wasn't stupid. "So unless you're here for tea and cookies," she continued, "I suggest you shoot your fancy little gun and get this over with. But I swear to you, we're not going down without a fight."

Hidden behind Half-Blood Hill, the army of campers had overhead Annabeth's angry speech and roared their approval.

Fury glanced at Agent Romanoff, then turned back to the Greeks. "We don't want to fight you, kid. But honestly, you're not exactly giving us a choice. If your friend Jackson had just come quietly for questioning right when this all started, this all could have been avoided."

Annabeth's eyes were alight with a cold fury her friends had never seen before. "Don't you _dare_ blame him for your war." Her voice was deathly quiet, her words shaking slightly with anger. "He has saved your ass more times than you will _ever_ know. He went through _hell_ and back for all of you!" She was screaming now, and Chiron laid a hand on her shoulder. "How _dare_ you blame him for this?"

"I think we're done here." Chiron glared at Fury and Romanoff.

"Wait a second. Where's the other one?" Agent Romanoff demanded. "Isn't she one of your commanding officers? And the animal one, where's he? Shouldn't we be negotiating with everyone present?"

"Everyone is present." A loud, commanding voice echoed above them. Annabeth moved her eyes skyward to see Reyna astride a Pegasus, flying above them. Frank was beside her on his own mount.

Fury was on his comm. immediately. "What's going on? Why was I not informed of this?" His voice was angry. He turned away momentarily, leaving Romanoff to stare up at the sky in wonder. She'd seen some crazy things, but in all her years, she'd never seen anything like this.

The pegasi landed softly in the grass, Reyna and Frank dismounting before they'd even come to a full stop.

"Reyna, shouldn't you be with the Legion?" Jason's voice was quiet so the agents of SHIELD wouldn't hear.

Reyna just smiled. "If this a meeting, I'd like to be here for it." She turned to Fury and Romanoff. "We're giving you one last chance to surrender. If you engage us, you will not win."

Romanoff shook her head. "I think you've got that backwards."

Frank snorted derisively.

Fury turned his attention on him."You're the one who broke into my office." He looked at Frank accusingly.

Frank's smile never reached his eyes. "Thanks for the intel."

Fury sighed. "Look, I'm not gonna pretend like you didn't hear that, and apparently you aren't either. There's no point in lying anymore, kid. Our weapons will destroy you. Surrender now, and no one has to get hurt."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "We're going in circles," she muttered. Then, louder, she said, "If you want to fight, let's do it. If not, get off our land!"

Fury sighed. "Suit yourself." He spoke into his comm next. "Start the attack."

Percy Jackson stopped in his tracks, the blood draining from his face. His hand went into his pocket, fingers closing around Riptide, before he realized his sword would be of no use this time.

His heart felt like it had stopped beating, and his body went suddenly numb. He yanked Annabeth's gun from the waistband of his jeans.

There it was. His dream. He knew this would happen. He knew his dream would come true. Why didn't Annabeth listen to him?

Fury and Romanoff were standing, facing the line of demigods. All of them were there, just as they were supposed to be. Chiron, Annabeth, Frank, Reyna, Clarisse, and Jason.

He started to run for Half-Blood Hill, determined to protect them. He would not let one more nightmare become a reality. He could faintly hear Nick Fury's deep voice saying something, then Clarisse's voice broke through, loud and clear.

"—not, get off our land!"

There was a moment of silence. He was halfway there.

Suddenly, Romanoff raised a tiny handgun, taking a step backward.

_No!_ Percy's brain screamed at him to keep running, to tackle Annabeth out of the way before the bullet could hit her. Instead, he used his common sense and stopped running, his breath coming hard. He clicked the safety off, ran the slide back, and took aim. He'd only shot a gun once before, when Paul and his mom had gone to the shooting range and brought Percy along. They'd said it was a good thing to know, and now he understood why. Of course, they could never know that this would happen, but they were smart enough to know that, as a demigod, he would need it.

Unfortunately, he also didn't know that Romanoff and Fury were retreating away from Half-Blood Hill, back into their own ranks.

He lined the sights up on Romanoff's chest, knowing he'd have to be extremely careful not to hit anyone else. He squeezed the trigger, and—miraculously—the recoil didn't throw his aim too far off. The bullet whizzed right past Romanoff's shoulder, missing her by at least a foot. His fellow demigods ducked in surprise, and Chiron leaped out of the way.

Agent Romanoff jerked to the side, surprised by the unannounced visitor. Then she grabbed Reyna by the shoulder and thrust the gun to her temple. This was not good. Fury spotted him almost immediately, and with Romanoff holding a gun to Reyna's head, Percy couldn't exactly return fire. Fury shot off three bullets in quick succession, trying to gun Percy down. Romanoff quickly followed suit. Percy rolled out of the way as bullets zipped into the ground around him. One of them flew behind him and buried itself in the wood of one of the cabins. Suddenly, Reyna jerked away from Romanoff, slamming her elbow hard into her face. She and Frank jumped onto their pegasi, darting back toward the Legion. Percy was thankful when Jason tackled Fury to the ground, knocking the gun from his hands and effectively stopping the hailstorm of bullets rocketing his way. Annabeth and Clarisse quickly followed suit, engaging Romanoff in combat. Clarisse held a sword in her hands, and Annabeth's knife darted in and out, trying to catch Romanoff in the side.

Percy picked himself up off the ground, running for Half-Blood Hill again. Chiron was yelling for the other demigods to get to their groups, to begin the attack.

As soon as his feet Half-Blood Hill, he realized there wasn't much he could do. The two agents were three quarters of the way down the other side of the hill, almost back to their own ranks. His friends stood holding their weapons, daring them to try another attack. As soon as Fury and Romanoff had backed into the sea of agents, they began shouting orders.

"Go! Get back inside the borders!" Clarisse yelled. The demigods dashed over the hill just as agents began to swarm after them, bullets raining down around them. Return fire echoed around them from campers perched along the border. Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand as they dove out of the way of the firefight.

Percy clutched his girlfriend's hand, his breath leaving him as he looked up. A giant airship was hovering over Camp Half-Blood, blazing with power and life. The screaming was deafening, and before he could forget, he let go of Annabeth's hand and pressed the gun into it.

"Stay safe," he said quickly. He kissed her, her arms wrapping around his waist momentarily, then they broke apart.

***ashamed* I have no excuse. Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I'll do better next time, promise.**

_**Arrow XD**_


	25. Chapter 25

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever**

**ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: Earlier on we saw a short scene with Agents of SHIELD characters, and I said I hadn't seen season two yet so it would only be season one. But that was like a year ago and now I've seen season two and really want to add them, so…Yeah, season two characters in upcoming chapters. And if you don't know them, don't worry. Not a big deal.**

**And also: Dark!Percy is ahead!**

"They can't get in, right?" Nico demanded, intense dark eyes staring up at Annabeth. "They're not half-bloods, so they can't get past the borders. We have an advantage."

The son of Hades and Will had just gotten back from their trip to the beach, out of breath from running. When Annabeth had asked if the gods were coming to help, Will simply shrugged.

"They accepted the offering. That doesn't say much, though. Who knows what they'll do. We just have to hope." The son of Apollo's eyes were constantly in motion as he said this, one minute on the swarm of demigods in front of the border, the next on his cabin mates rushing around tending to a few of the already wounded.

Annabeth nodded quickly. She continued to quickly brief Will and Nico on the situation. "Whatever you do, don't leave camp. They can shoot at us, but they can't get in." She looked up toward the firefight at the border, anxious. Percy was over there, she knew. She could hear him shouting commands at his fellow warriors, encouraging them. The Legion was already swarming toward SHIELD's left side, cutting them off before they could surround Camp Half-Blood any further. At least a dozen demigods zipped by overhead, throwing any magical item they could get their hands on into the crowd of soldiers below. Captain Rogers was on the front lines, using his shield to deflect bullets and knocking out soldiers left and right. Annabeth was glad he was on their side.

"Stick to the plan," she told the two demigods standing in front of her. Nico was holding his Stygian sword, thanks to a little trick Hazel managed to figure out. She was able to enchant a few demigods' weapons with the ability to hurt mortals temporarily just before the battle. She'd offered it to Percy, but he'd declined, saying he didn't want human blood on Riptide. He had, however, accepted a regular sword. Annabeth grasped the heavy gun her boyfriend had given her so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Let's get 'em."

The three demigods charged toward the group of fighters, dodging stray bullets and screaming their battle cries. Annabeth had just caught sight of Jason and Piper standing by Thalia's tree, firing off round after round from their semiautomatics, when the magical border surrounding the camp shimmered. The demigods stopped in their tracks, looking skyward to where the shield was turning a deathly shade of purple and shattering. The gunfire had stopped on both sides, the world ominously quiet.

"No…"Annabeth murmured, watching as fragments of the shield fell away and winked out of existence before they hit the ground. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd, coming to a stop next to Leo. The Avengers were standing right at the edge of camp, one of them—Black Widow—holding a small vial full of glowing red liquid.

"Not possible," Leo muttered, his oversized war hammer hanging limp in his hands.

Nico and Will were suddenly standing next to Annabeth and Leo, both equally stunned.

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Ironman, and Thor stepped across the now broken border. Mortals were inside the camp.

Nico gasped as soon as their feet touched earth, staggering back a step. He suddenly dropped his sword, hand gripping his wounded arm. The old wound was completely healed, nothing left but a thin scar, but still Nico breathed heavily, sagging back against Will.  
"Nico? Are you okay?" Annabeth demanded, shooting a concerned look toward Nico. "How are they getting through?" Her voice was urgent.

Will shook his head as the Avengers stood their menacingly, waiting for the demigods to react. "How could I be so stupid?" He was holding Nico up by his good arm, and thankfully the son of Hades seemed to be recovering slightly. He rushed on. "If a mortal has the blood of a demigod, they can force the border to open for them. I read about it in one of the books Chiron lent me. It has to be an extremely powerful demigod, but it is possible."

"So whose blood are they using?" Annabeth was trying to keep her cool, but none of her plans had allowed room for this. As soon as the words left her mouth, Annabeth figured it out. There was only one person who had been injured and unconscious in their care for at least two days. They could have done anything they wanted to him.

Nico was still gasping for air, although he had picked up his sword again and wasn't leaning on Will anymore. His expression was full of dread. "I think it's mine."

"It must be blood from the wound you had on your arm," Will muttered. "That's why it affected you like that."

"Last chance. Stand down." Ironman's faceplate was up, and Annabeth could see his face. His expression was impossible to read.

Stark's voice broke the blanket of shock covering the demigods. Percy rushed forward, a mortal sword in hand, running straight for Black Widow. The group of demigods followed suit immediately, charging into battle.

Percy lunged forward at the assassin, his sword just missing her side as she ducked out of the way. He flashed back to their fight in the street so long ago and remembered exactly what she'd done last time to disarm him. This time, he was ready as she kicked her leg out and tried to trip him up. He hopped over her foot and brought the hilt of his sword down hard on her previously wounded knee. She barely showed any acknowledgement of pain as she caught Percy by the wrist, pressing down hard on his pressure point. He kept his grip on his sword tight, knowing he would drop it in a matter of seconds if he couldn't break free. Unfortunately, Romanoff knew just how to hold his arm so he couldn't break free, and his sword slipped from his hand. She twisted his arm behind his back, and Percy gasped in pain. He struggled, realizing just how well-trained this lady was. He brought his leg forward and kicked her hard in the knee once again. She staggered a little, but still managed to grab a nasty looking gun from the holster on her thigh. Suddenly, a glittering bronze knife sailed through the air, lodging into Black Widow's arm. She jerked back in surprise, dropping the gun and hissing in pain. Annabeth raced forward, immediately engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Romanoff had yanked the knife from her arm and threw two punches in quick succession at Annabeth. The daughter of wisdom swayed to the side, throwing a roundhouse kick at Romanoff's ribs. Widow took a step backward, trying to regain her balance, then threw herself forward again at Annabeth. Percy jumped to his girlfriend's aid, the two ganging up against the master assassin.

The redhead stood, facing off the two demigods. "Two to one," she said. "Hardly fair."

She faked a punch in Annabeth's direction, then dove the other way toward the gun she had dropped earlier. It didn't look like a normal weapon, and Percy had the sudden realization that it must be one of their special ones. The ones that could take away a demigod's power for hours. The one that could paralyze its victims.

Her dive had taken her to the ground, and she was lying on her back now, both hands up and holding the Politician. Widow fired off two shots, both in Percy's direction, before Annabeth leaped forward and tried to knock it from her hands. She grabbed the daughter of Athena's ankle and yanked it to the side, knocking her to the ground.

Percy felt that familiar tightening in his gut, that tingling in his fingertips. Water rushed forward across the ground, making agents and demigods jump out of the way. He sent it soaring through the horde of SHIELD officers surrounding camp Half-Blood, washing several of them away. The water raced up into the air, forming a violent tsunami. Rainwater pelted the area around them, drenching the three warriors and shielding the two demigods from Romanoff's bullets. Percy could barely see her through the rainstorm crashing around them. Annabeth got to her feet beside him, touching his arm as he controlled the water, sending it spiraling into the air and curling around Romanoff. It was time to end this once and for all. They wanted a reason to fight him? Well here it was.

The water suddenly shot into Romanoff's mouth, zipping down her throat and choking her. She gasped for air, coughing up water even as she inhaled more. She threw up her hands, trying to shield herself from the cascading water rushing at her.

Percy's heart raced even as it grew colder, resolve hardening in his mind. He felt Annabeth clutch his arm tightly, not yet realizing what he was doing. Percy really did feel horrible. He almost couldn't do it—drown Romanoff. In all his years of killing monsters and being a hero, he'd never killed a human being. And really, he wanted to keep it that way. But wasn't she trying to kill him? He was trying to protect his home, wasn't he?

Annabeth grabbed his arm and yanked it, making Percy drop his concentration. "Percy, stop! You can't do this!"

"She's trying to kill us, Annabeth! All of us!" Percy screamed angrily, wrenching himself free of his girlfriend's grasp and putting his hands up again. Just as quickly as Widow had regained her breath, she lost it again.

A hot, stinging feeling suddenly flashed across his face, and he looked up to see Annabeth's blazing eyes glaring at him, her hand lowering back to her side. "Perseus Jackson you stop this right now or so help me I will hit you a lot harder than that." She was holding her knife in a shaking hand.

Their eyes met for a brief instant, in which Percy saw Annabeth's fear.

"Don't do something you'll regret." Her voice was firm.

But he wasn't going to regret this.

Just as he pressed the water on harder, burning heat flashed against his back, and he flew at least thirty feet, slamming into Thalia's tree with a crack. He heard Annabeth scream—in surprise, anger, or worry, he had no idea. Percy struggled to heave a breath into his empty lungs, sure that at least two or three ribs had cracked. He turned sea green eyes to see Ironman standing in front of him, hand up and blazing with power, ready to shoot again if needed.

"Stay down, kid," he said.

Percy dragged a few more breaths in. "That thing certainly...leaves you…breathless." He laughed a little. "Pun intended."

Stark snorted. "Nice one. Now look, I don't want to hurt you. But when you try to kill my friend here, that's when I get involved—"He was prevented from saying anything further as Jason suddenly flew down, summoning lightning to strike Ironman. Unfortunately, Stark just stood there expectantly.

"Yeah, sorry about that. See, I've made it virtually impossible for me to get electrocuted in the suit. Again, sorry to disappoint." Before he'd even finished speaking, he shot forward, lunging for Jason. Jason was in the air in a heartbeat, Ironman racing after him. The two battled in midair momentarily, then Jason began to fall. Stark zipped down, grabbed him, and flew back down to ground level. He dropped Jason on the ground next to Percy. He looked at Percy for a moment—the son of Poseidon couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking because of the mask. It almost seemed like regret.

Percy put two fingers against Jason's neck, checking for a pulse. His green eyes roamed the area, watching the destruction as he desperately tried to breathe again. It didn't help that fire shot through his veins every time he inhaled. Black Widow was now fighting three campers, looking a little overwhelmed. Percy searched the area for Annabeth. He felt a stab of worry when he couldn't find her.

It was chaos. Pure chaos.

Jason was still alive, thank the gods. He figured since Stark had been kind enough to set him down nicely, he hadn't killed him. Still, you should always make sure.

He got up and ran toward the fight again, snatching up his sword on the way. He ignored the pulsing pain in his chest. His eyes fell on Nico, who was standing in front of the Hades cabin wielding his Stygian sword. Three soldiers surrounded him, backing him up towards the cabin's porch. What was the problem? Nico could easily defend himself against a few mortal soldiers. Something was wrong.

Percy was forced to stop momentarily to knock out an agent assaulting him. He was down in a matter of minutes. Percy jumped at the first soldier he could, tackling him to the ground. The man twisted around, elbowing Percy in the mouth. He was thrown to the side, rolling in the dirt. He tasted blood. His sword had flown from his hand and now lay a foot away. The soldier slammed a foot down on Percy's wrist—thankfully not his sword hand—and twisted it ruthlessly. The son of Poseidon gasped in pain, feeling his wrist being ripped right out of its socket. The soldier leveled his rifle at Percy's chest. He wasn't aiming to kill, that much Percy knew. Otherwise he would have lined up the sights on his head.

Still, a bullet to the chest at point-blank range would most definitely kill him.

His fingers found his sword just in time and it arced up, catching his assailant in the shoulder. He screamed in pain, stumbling back and falling to the ground. Percy pulled himself to his feet and was immediately met with another agent. Percy was surprised when he saw her—she was an older woman. Japanese maybe? She looked dangerous, though. Cold. Percy ducked out of the way of her punch before throwing one of his own. The agent dodged and thrust her foot out, trying to trip Percy up. The son of Poseidon skipped out of the way.

Enough of this, he thought. Hand-to-hand was fine, but swordplay was his specialty. He swung his blade around, aiming for the woman's gun hand. Decommission, not decapitate, he thought. The agent caught the metal with the butt of her gun and knocked it aside. She threw another vicious kick at him, and Percy barely ducked out of the way.

Dang, Percy thought. She was good.

She threw three quick punches at his jaw, two of which he managed to evade. Stars exploded before his eyes, making him sway on his feet momentarily.

"May!" Someone screamed. "May! Finish him and get over here!" It was a man's voice coming through from her earpiece. As soon as Percy registered what he'd just said, he ignored the lights still flashing in his eyes and dropped to the dirt. Two gunshots rang out ear-piercingly loud right in front of him. Agent May—he assumed that was her name—leveled her gun at him, ready to shoot.

Well, great, he thought. He'd only been on the ground for a heartbeat before he rolled to the side, dropping his sword so he could use his good hand to grab her ankle and yank her to the ground. She lost her balance, turning the fall into a lethal weapon as her heavy boot slammed into Percy's chin. He blacked out for a split second before scrambling to his feet and picking up his sword again. His fingers had just brushed the hilt, however, when a bullet ripped through his leg.

**Arrow :D**


	26. Let me explain(Please read)

**So someone asked me if Percy could summon water out of people and get really dark and angsty, which is probably a yes, but you'd have to ask Mr. Riordan. That won't be included in this story, but I'm sure there are some out there.**

**Also, I know I kind of put the damper on the demigods' powers, especially Percy. I do realize that I didn't quite do them justice, but I'm not perfect so cut me some slack, okay? ;) And also, I kind of needed them to start getting beat at the beginning of the battle for the story to progress right (not saying they're definitely going to win or anything). And I was kind of looking at it like the Avengers (especially Romanoff) and the agents were mostly trained in hand-to-hand while the demigods were more used to fighting with swords. They're pretty darn good at hand-to-hand as well, but I felt like the Avengers/soldiers/agents would be slightly better since they've been trained since a young age in hand-to-hand and stuff.**

**So…yeah. I love you guys! Thanks for all the support and reviews!**

**Oh, and also, I really am sorry I only sporadically update. I'm trying my best. Nanowrimo's been devouring all my creativeness, and this story's been kind of put on the back burner with everything else getting flinged at me. Don't worry, I will finish it as quickly as I can! This is just an advance apology for late updates! XD**

**Oh and one more thing (sorry this is so long). You guys are the reason I continue to post on fanfiction, and you fuel so much of my creativity and stuff its crazy. I really really love you guys and can't thank you enough for all your love. And even if you don't like the story and feel the need to flame me, I'm not going to be offended or hurt or anything by it. A lot of you have expressed opinions, criticisms, and ideas that are all very helpful in the making of this story. Thank you for that. But also, I understand that I made this story way too complex for me to handle and I've screwed myself over because I have no way to fix all the mistakes I've made with it. I understand that, I appreciate you guys for helping me see the flaws in it so that I can improve my writing. But please, cut me some slack, okay? I'm just a fangirl who likes to write fanfiction in her spare time, not a famous author. And I'm not complaining about criticism/flames/etc, I didn't report anyone-'m not offended by it-or delete any reviews, and my feelings aren't hurt, I'm not being a crybaby or anything, I'm just asking that you guys please understand there's only so much I can do. I know this story's been on a rapid downhill recently, and I've tried to fix it to the best of my abilities, but as I've stated earlier, I am royally screwed. So before you write another ten paragraph essay on why this story sucks or all the reasons why it doesn't line up, please remember that I'm doing my best, okay? If you don't like it, don't read it. Hopefully sometime after I finish it I'll be able to come back and revamp it quite a bit. I really appreciate you guys and all your feedback, so thank you.**

**And also, this doesn't mean I'm discontinuing the story. I will finish it.**

**Arrow**


	27. Chapter 26

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, all rights to Rick Riordan! I also don't own The Avengers either, so rights go to Marvel or whatever**

**This chapter is dedicated to dog1056 for just being awesome XD**

Percy didn't feel it at first. He wasn't sure if that was due to the adrenaline rushing through his veins or if that was just what happens when you get shot at point blank range. Either way, it took a second for him to realize that, A) he hadn't been hit with a baseball bat, it had been a bullet, B) There was a hole in his leg that was bleeding heavily already, and C) It hurt like Hades.

He crumpled to the ground, his legs refusing to work anymore. Cold sweat broke out on his body as he tried to stop the blood flow. He watched as Agent May went dashing off across the battlefield, her mission accomplished. But what was her mission? To incapacitate him? Why hadn't she killed him?

He saw Nico running toward him—he must have finished off the last agent. His shoulder was coated in dried blood.

"You okay, Nico?" Percy gasped, trying to stay in control of the pain.

"Just grazed." He pulled off his jacket, using the sleeves to tie it around Percy's leg. He did it awkwardly, like his left arm—the one that had been hurt—was a lot worse than a graze. The son of Poseidon hissed in pain as he pulled the tourniquet tight.

"You sure? It doesn't look too great." Percy winced as he fumbled for his sword, holding it in his good hand. His wrist was killing him.

"Um…yeah. Listen, Percy, there's something you need to know." His dark eyes were darting around the camp, waiting for the next attack. "Those aren't regular bullets."

It took Percy's pain-fogged mind a minute to realize what he'd just said. He heaved a deep breath in. "Oh no." Nico rooted around in his pockets before finding a piece of ambrosia and handing it to the son of Poseidon. Percy took it gratefully, the warmth spreading through his body.

"Oh yes. I can barely move my arm." He grabbed a gun from the holster of an unconscious agent nearby. "You're not going to be able to walk, so take this." He handed it to Percy. "Also, don't try to use any godly abilities or anything, I tried."

Percy could feel his leg going numb. At least it eased the pain.

"Not only does the serum infused in the bullets make it impossible to use them, it also makes you sick to your stomach if you try." His words were brisk. He was shaking with pent up adrenaline. He wanted to keep fighting.

Nico grabbed Percy around the chest from behind, using his good arm. He handed the son of Poseidon his sword as he dragged him back and away from the firefight. He paused for a moment, then spoke again. "Can you stand?"

Percy nodded a little, letting Nico help him to his feet. The paralysis was almost in full affect, which was both good and bad. The good part: it didn't hurt nearly as bad anymore; the bad part: he couldn't walk. They stumbled up the broken steps and into the Hades cabin.

"What are we doing?" Percy asked, confused. The son of death ignored him.

Nico sat him down on the bed and glanced around quickly. "Will you be okay here?" He looked directly into Percy's green eyes.

"You are not leaving me here." Anger boiled inside him. "Not when everyone else is out there fighting."

"Percy, you can't walk. I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet, actually—"

Percy made an offended noise.

"—and if you step outside that door and one of those bastards sees you, they will kill you without a second thought."

"I'm not stupid. Do you know how many monsters I've fought? How many times I've risked my life to save this camp? Don't you dare stand there and tell me to wait inside the freaking cabin while all my friends are fighting for their lives." He lurched to his feet, his right leg buckling and making him wobble. Nico grabbed his arm, steadying him. Percy shook him off angrily, leaning heavily against the nightstand.

"You think I don't know how it feels to be left behind?" His dark eyes stared Percy down.

Percy shifted uncomfortably. "That has nothing to do with this. Now are you going to help me get out of here or what?"

"No."

"Fine. I'll do it myself." He made it two steps before his knee gave out and he fell to the floor again. Nico caught him just before he hit the wooden floor, dragging him back to the bed. Dang, the kid had gotten stronger during his days at Camp Half-Blood.

"Stay here, Percy." He turned back toward the door, looking frustrated and anxious and downright mad all at once. "I don't have time to sit here and babysit you."

The son of Poseidon grit his teeth in pain and anger. The paralysis took away some of the pain, but not all of it. "Whatever, just go," he said breathlessly. His voice held defeat. "Find Annabeth. Make sure she's all right, okay?" Percy could remember a time when he didn't trust Nico di Angelo as far as he could throw him. Now he trusted him with his life.

Nico nodded, picking up his Stygian iron sword from the floor where Percy had dropped it after they got inside. His knuckles were white around the leather grip. His eyes flashed dangerously. "And thank you, Percy. For helping me out back there." He dropped a few more pieces of ambrosia onto the end table. "Take those."

Then he was gone.

The son of Poseidon unwrapped two and ate them quickly as the door fell closed. Percy snorted in abrupt laughter, muttering to himself. Just because he trusted Nico didn't mean he'd let the kid fight his battles for him—both physically and metaphorically. "Yeah, go ahead, di Angelo." He heaved himself to his feet again, leaning on his sword for support. The blade was making a nasty hole in the wooden floor. "You go kick some butt..." He swung open the door, fighting unconsciousness. Nausea swept over him, and he stood still for a minute, panting. "…while I sit in here and nap." When it passed, he stumbled back down the stairs. "Not likely."

STEVE POV

His shield zipped out of his hand, flying through the air and slamming into two soldiers before returning to his grip. Steve whirled around, taking out an agent behind him before spinning back around to meet his next assailant.

"Clint," he said, only mildly surprised. He knew it was only a matter of time before he'd have to fight one of his own.

"Come on, Steve. Don't make me do this," his voice sounded playful. "You know I'm gonna kick your ass." He snapped his bow into its staff position and twirled it a few times. "And if I don't, Fury will."

Steve shook his head, strengthening his resolve. "Well that's a risk I'll have to take."

"Oh, it's a promise." Hawkeye darted forward, bringing his bow down hard on Steve's shield arm. Captain America barely flinched at the impact and swung his shield around, blocking the next blow. Unfortunately, he didn't see that it was just a feint and Hawkeye dove for his midsection, tackling him to the ground.

Had he just been going easy on Steve in training?

Rogers threw his elbow out and smashed it into Clint's jaw, trying to knock him out. He really didn't want to hurt him, but if that was his only option, then so be it.

Clint grunted in pain, managing to dodge the better part of the blow. They wrestled on the ground for a moment, Steve's shield getting thrown to the side and Clint losing his bow somewhere in the process.

A fair amount of dirt had gotten into Steve's mouth before he got to his feet, grabbing his shield and ready to bring it down on Clint. He was going to wake up with one heck of a headache.

Then, before he could move another inch, an ear-splitting crack of thunder shattered through the sounds of battle, and a bolt of lightning ripped open the blue sky.

The gods had arrived.

**So...yeah. Sorry for the wait guys**

**Thanks for reading XD**

**Arrow XD**


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